Second
by aethershine
Summary: Two centuries after Sonja's death Lucian meets a creature who offers him valuable aid in his war against the vampires. How will he reconcile this uncommon partnership with his undying love for a woman who is lost to him forever? Lucian/OC. COMPLETED
1. Seen

Exactly when our female familiars came into existence I cannot say. It occurred a short time after the first battle with the vampires, when the tide seemed to have turned in our favor, and we were suddenly free and powerful men. No doubt their origin was initially the result of overzealous lovemaking, an inattentive nip that broke the skin, thus infecting the unsuspecting woman with the Lycan virus.

For my part I paid little attention to our female counterparts. Their existence was rare, and as they were somewhat superfluous to our race, not being necessary for the perpetuation of the species, I found little use for them. Though fierce fighters, they were smaller and weaker. What we needed were warriors, and men met that condition with zeal and without impediment.

My eyes fell on all women, whether human, Lycan or even vampire, to the same effect.

_It is not she._

With single-pointed focus I endeavored to smite my enemy and ensure the survival of my species. I fought and killed vampires, led others to do the same, and planned and plotted strategies that stretched hundreds of years into the future to meet my ends. For centuries, this was my solitary purpose, from which I could not be diverted.

Almost two centuries had passed since the annihilation of my love. During waking hours I battled with the heart of a lion, but when at rest, I began to feel a chill, a creeping uncertainty. My immortal soul had of late felt stretched thin with the solitude that only a true leader and soldier can know. I felt as though I was beginning to be filled with ice. I often fancied in an odd way that I was becoming as cold and hard from my guts to my skin, as my dearest love had been from the outside in. I was possessed with questions. What would the end of this mission bring? What would Lycan victory accomplish? While I found peace in the notion of securing a place in the world for my species, what would become of us after? We were bred for war, and I feared that without the solidarity necessitated during battle, we would dissipate and vanish, that the species would be lost after all.

It was during this period of lonely uncertainty, that I met a most unusual creature.

It was twilight; the sun had been set not yet a half hour, when I heard a ruckus in the camp. This being nothing unusual I was unmoved. The men had a habit of sparring during periods of inactivity, and the war had been at a standstill for weeks. I found their brawls an inefficient use of energy, as I knew well that the enemy could rally at any moment and we might need all of our powers to meet in battle. However I did not find it prudent to smite their whims on such matters. While it was in my nature to be like a tightly wound coil, necessitating not the slightest movement before striking out in battle, I knew it was not so for many of my kind. They needed to stay in the fray in order to keep their edge, and I would not deny them their requirement.

This scuffle was particularly boisterous, and I more than once heard a peculiar earsplitting snarl, unlike any Lycan sound I'd yet heard. I was curious, so I endeavored to see what was about. The men surrounding "the pit" as they referred to it gave me a wide berth as I entered, looks of concern and embarrassment crossing their faces. I smiled genially, though I could feel the ice behind my eyes.

_Alone among my kinsman_.

My presence had not disturbed the fight, and I could see that Raze was one of the participants, but I did not recognize the young Lycan with whom he sparred. Though much smaller than Raze (but then, who wasn't?) this fighter was faster and possessed of a grace and cunning that was unusual for our kind. Instead of resorting to the usual shred and dismember technique so common to the Lycan, this youngster was using Raze's own size and momentum against him. By deflecting the energy from a strike that Raze had leveled at his head, thereby leaving Raze off balance, the unknown Lycan was able to duck and whirl around to Raze's back. When Raze had regained his balance and spun around, he found his attacker in a low crouch, and was unable to regroup before the young Lycan had sprung and closed his jaws around Raze's massive throat.

The crowd broke into frenzy unlike any I'd heard at such an event. It was almost the level at which they rejoiced at the end of a successful battle. I stood there mutely, not really understanding. I knew the esteem with which our brethren held Raze. He was one of our best fighters, so for one to fight him and win would be of some significance. I reminded myself that this was sport for them, a leisure activity that brought them pleasure. I was concentrating on this point when I noticed that the timbre of the crowd's yells turned from excitement to something more sinister. I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck as I turned toward the center of the pit.

Raze had returned to human form, and was on his hands and knees, slowly making as if to get to his feet. I was partially concealed by the crowd, but our eyes met and he gave me the slightest nod to indicate his wellbeing. I looked for the other fighter and was shocked by the scene before me.

The fighter had also resumed human form, but not into the person of a young man as I was expecting, but rather that of a young woman. I watched with rising unease as she walked toward a group of men who were gathered together at one end of the pit. I heard her say in a clear, gritty voice,

"I told you I could whip him. Now I demand my clothes at once."

Her voice was commanding and unwavering, but the men simply laughed and leered at her. She made no move toward them, nor did she try to cover her nudity. She was standing with her back to me, so I was able to see the odd flicker of skin shoot up her spine as her body involuntarily began to change back to Lycan form. She chose to quell that impulse, remaining human as she stood before them.

"We had a deal. I fight Raze. I beat Raze. I get my things back. I thought we had an understanding. But apparently you animals are unaccustomed to the concept of an agreement."

"Oh we'll honor the agreement," taunted a man I took to be the ringleader. "But you're going to have to win it back a piece at a time." He smiled at her hollowly. "Do you want to start with what we originally took from you," he asked, indicating a small chest at his feet, "or do you want an item of clothing?" He held up an undergarment and waved it around to the crowd, eliciting a low heckle.

I stepped into the pit and all fell silent. I looked at the ringleader whose acerbic smile froze on his lips.

"I'm confused," I mused, my tone light. "I thought that 'to the victor, go the spoils' was a fairly obvious concept." I stood still, my hands folded behind my back, and my eyebrows raised in question. No one moved. I took a few steps closer to the small group of perpetrators and their detainee, noting with distain that a number of my kinsmen were slinking off into the shadows as I passed. The men looked nervous, the woman, merely poised. I took little note of them. I only had eyes for the ringleader.

"What is your name?" I asked quietly.

After a pause, he half choked out his name.

"Killian."

"Where did you come from Killian?" My voice maintained it evenness.

"I came into the fold a few months ago," he said nervously, "after Bourne."

"Ah," I said simply. I walked up to Killian and took my measure of the man. Weak. Indolent. Spineless. Without breaking eye contact I reached into his hands and took the woman's clothing, which he relinquished without resistance.

"Do you know what happens to Lycans who are cut off from the pack?" I asked, never letting my eyes leave his eyes, which grew distinctly wider at my question. He did not answer.

"You're new, so I'll tell you," I stated, my voice like flint. "If we turn you out during the day, you have roughly twelve hours to consider your options, which are limited to say the least. I imagine it would be prudent to run as fast as you could toward the west and chase the setting sun. If we banish you at night, they will eat you before you are but a mile outside of our territory."

Killian was visibly shaking. I allowed a full minute to pass before speaking again.

"Do we understand each other?"

"Yes," he choked.

"Then get out of my sight," my voice was low, like a growl. "And if I hear but a whisper of this kind of behavior again, all of you will be out."

The men hurried away. The crowd had likewise dissipated. I turned to the woman, holding her clothes out in front of me, my eyes averted. I felt her take the clothes from my hands, and then, nothing…

In truth I expected her to thank me. But she said nothing, nor did she move, not even to dress. She was as silent as a grave and I could feel her eyes on my face. I had not expected to have to interact with her beyond what I had already done. I felt uneasy, as if I was being forced into something for which I was unprepared.

_I have not spoken to a woman since…_

"Why won't you look at me?" she asked, her voice mild, betraying nothing more than curiosity.

It took me a moment to think through the question.

_Because the only woman at whom I'd ever wanted to look had also been forbidden for my eyes._

_Because the last time I saw that woman's face it was turned to ashes._

_Because hers is the only female face that I ever want to see again. _

I felt the weight of my immortality as I raised my eyes to hers.

_Nothing can be put off forever._


	2. Touched

I just wanted to add a quick note at the beginning regarding a few character issues and timeline. As much as I like these movies, I've found their math to be a little fuzzy. But since the story is about vampires and werewolves I'm not inclined to be too picky. That said, I'm going to use a little creative license with regard to the timeline. In my story (NOT Underworld as I have absolutely NO claim to anyone or anything in the franchise) I am going to say that Lucian was born in approximately 1200AD. Sonja is murdered in approximately 1230AD. My story takes place in roughly 1400AD. Which means that I will have to go back and change one tiny little detail in my first chapter…

I don't want to give too much away about my character, but her presence in Eastern Europe is a mystery to me, as I have little memory of actual historical transcontinental trade routes. So in other words this is fiction. I'll leave it at that.

One more thing. Thanks for reading. Reviews make me happy and want to write more (hint, hint.) And again, I own nothing (except for HER…)

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I looked into her eyes, and my first impression was that there was something wrong with them. They were the wrong color, an odd cloudy water color, far apart and almond shaped. Her face was round with a small nose and ruddy mouth. Her hair was dark and straight, gathered into a clumsy knot on her head, and her skin, though pale, was flushed with blood from her exertions in the pit. She was young, likely no more than twenty when she was turned. She had the look of the traders from the east who occasionally passed near to Lycan territory, and with whom we occasionally did business.

Without being indecent, I noted that the size of her, in both height and width was diminutive; such to the extent that I was sure I was double her weight, which meant that Raze had to easily be three to four times her size, a fact that vaguely amused me.

An angry red scar raged up the front of her torso, from her groin to her sternum, though I hardly gave it a moment's notice. I had taken my measure of her dispassionately and found that though I was capable of ascertaining specifics about her physically – height and hair color – I was unable to get a read with regard to her character. I found this fact bothersome, which is the only reason that I again looked into her eyes.

I found them strange, as the people from the east often had dark brown eyes, almost to the point of being black, and yet this woman's eyes were a peculiar grayish-blue. They gave the impression that they were looking through you, not to some part inside of you, but at something beyond where you were standing, as if you weren't there in the first place.

"Sir?" the woman half whispered. "What is it that you wish to tell me?" she asked in her hushed voice, no trace of a foreign accent to be heard.

_Now she wants me to speak._

It was truly hard enough to look at her. Though far from unattractive, she possessed none of the beauty of the woman that I had loved. She was neither regal in stature, nor brooding nor sensual as my love had been. No high cheekbones, full lips, sharp brow or magnetic eye graced her face.

I was overcome with grief for a moment. Had I wanted the next woman I was confronted with to remind me of Sonja? Had I put off such a moment for nearly two hundred years because I was hoping to find her likeness? It seemed so hollow and unlikely a pursuit. It was so much easier to be a soldier, to focus on the current task and be invested only in duty. Where had this woman come from? Who had let her in?

"Sir," she began but I cut her off.

"Why are you here?" I asked quietly, turning away from her and her strange, penetrating gaze.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice impassive. I heard the shifting of cloth against skin and I was relieved that she had finally decided to put on some clothing.

"I thought Lycans were unmoved by nudity," she chuckled good-naturedly. "And here you are acting like a monk."

I was suddenly sidetracked and irritated by her candor. I turned toward her, and took two steps menacingly in her direction. She did not move nor flinch.

"I should think that a lady would prefer to be clothed in the company of men," I said shortly through gritted teeth, unable to conceal my displeasure.

She regarded me silently for a few moments, her steel-colored eyes boring through me. I desired to look elsewhere, or better, to leave the scene entirely. But I remained riveted where I stood.

"I think you'll find, sir, that I am no lady. I have not been a lady since my father sold me into slavery when I was four years old to traders from the west, because he was too frightened that my silver eyes were the mark of a witch." These words were spoken by her plainly and without angst.

I stared at her, conviction and anger slowly ebbing away.

_So she had been a slave as well._

Far from a experiencing a feeling of camaraderie, I at least felt a kernel of empathy.

As if in answer to my thoughts she quickly drew away, her face becoming a mask and her eyes turning to stone.

"Do not look at me with pity," she rebuked haughtily. "I have made my way in the world without help or sympathy from men. What honor I possess is mine, and though not a lady, I have my dignity which no one has given and no one can take."

I was taken aback by her indignation and display of pride. This flash of anger seemed in contrast to her affable chatter only moments ago. She was enigmatic and for a moment I felt intrigued.

But it was only for an instant and then the ice that suffused my being pressed outward from my core. I returned neutrally to my original question.

"Why are you here," I asked flatly.

The emotional plane of her face changed in an instant, and she smiled conspiratorially.

"I imagine I am here for the same reason you are sir. I am Lycan. It would not do to be separate from my kind during a time of war."

"Yes," I said somewhat impatiently. "Perhaps I asked the wrong question. How did you come to be this way?"

An unknowable and wayward smile crossed her lips when she answered.

"The details of my transformation are…none of your business," she stated, eyeing me. "Though, technically I'm sure the way we came to be like this is the same."

It was my turn to be inscrutable, and I felt the corner of my mouth turn up when I said,

"I am absolutely certain that is not so."

She looked at me, her thin brows pinched in puzzlement, though, too quickly, understanding dawned in her stormy eyes. She squared her shoulders with mine and took three strides toward me, so that she was standing within an arm's length. At such close range I was again taken aback by how small she was, as I had to look down almost a full head to maintain eye contact.

"Master Lucian," she stated simply.

"Yes," I confirmed, feeling a moment's foreboding. I had good reason, because before I could blink, the young woman had pivoted on her left leg and swung her right foot up to kick me hard square in the face.


	3. Named

After the initial blow I reacted quickly enough, catching her fist in my hand before it could connect with my face.

_Now I've touched another woman._

She made an angry cry, and I saw the livid flicker of flesh along her brow as her face began to change from human to Lycan. As I was still holding her fist gripped tightly in my hand, I could feel the blood dripping from her hand down my forearm as her fingers which had transformed into claws bit into the flesh of her own palm. With my other hand I grabbed her by the throat and backed her up quickly into a wall, banging her head unceremoniously into the stone. She screamed in fury, and I could see that she was about to become fully Lycan. The smartest recourse would be for me to follow suit. She gnashed her teeth in my face as if to provoke me into just such an action. Instead I stood my ground, looked directly into her enraged eyes, and growled threateningly,

"Enough!"

She was within moments of fully turning. Had I not seen the earlier control with which she had contained her body's impulse to turn Lycan, I would have been forced to change myself, and a fight to the death would have ensued. Unsure of any reason why she should, I trusted she would see the wisdom in standing down. Fighting Raze during a tournament was one thing. Engaging your leader in mortal combat within the confines of his fortress was another.

Time stood still. I clutched her fist in one hand, and her throat in another. I looked into her face, which was mostly Lycan, her water-colored eyes lost to the beast's black, hard glare. She was breathing hard, and a vague hissing sound emitted from between her razor sharp teeth. I stood on the edge of a knife. In an instant I must be ready to act with deadly force, and though I respected both her skill as a fighter and the head start she had in transformation, I was certain that I could snap her neck while maintaining my human form. It was this certainty that enabled me to glare menacingly into the depths of her animal eyes.

"Please," I said through clenched teeth, "Let's put away our claws and discuss this like civilized people."

She blinked and paused, as if in deliberation, and then she changed back to her human form, dropping the visage of Lycan as if she was allowing a cloak to slip from her body. As she hadn't fully turned, her tunic had survived and was only slightly damaged from the episode. She glared at me heatedly, and I considered the wisdom of releasing my hold on her throat and fist.

"Release me," she snarled. I acquiesced, but did not back away. Without breaking eye contact, I scanned my periphery. I sensed the presence of a small number of my brethren, who were already breaking off and moving away from the scene. I waited until I was sure that we were alone before proceeding.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand," I demanded coldly.

"You owe me your blood," she spat caustically.

"And why is that?" My tone was disinterested. In truth, I was angrier than I had been in a long time, and the blood that she called for boiled very close to the surface.

"You came to our village," she began, her eyes slits. "You told us that we could be free if we joined you. We saw so many freed slaves. My husband believed you. He believed that through you we could become free. He left to join you. He swore it would only be for a time; that he would return for me once he was a free man. A free man has a right to his wife, whether she is a slave or not. No man can claim her but her husband..." Her voice shook, and she choked back a sob. This display of emotion seemed to shock her, and she was quiet for several moments, staring blankly over my shoulder.

"He returned five years later. By that time I had been claimed by a subordinate of the man who owned me," she said through clenched teeth. "My husband came home to a dishonored wife with an illegitimate child in her womb."

I looked at her face. She no longer looked angry, but tired, tears running down both cheeks. A hollow smile turned her mouth.

"You asked how I came to be this way," she said, placing her hands on either side of her face. "I became Lycan after my dear husband tore from my body my unborn child with his teeth."

I shuddered involuntarily and backed away. I could not look away from her face, which had become peaceful, in a sorrowful and despondent way. This war was my mission. I freed slaves to join my mission, because having been a slave I knew that fighting against our oppressors was righteous. What else could I do? This was the reality of war. And yet…I felt ill at the thought of her pain and loss.

"I don't know how I forgot your face," she murmured distantly, looking up at me. "I felt sure that I would know you if I ever saw you again. And I knew that I would endeavor to kill you," she sighed. "I suppose that given enough time all things can be forgotten…even the face of the man that destroyed your life."

We were quiet for some time. Many things entered my mind, the foremost of which was to ascertain the level of threat this woman presented to the welfare of the pack. It seemed the logical course of action to kill her and be finished with the entire business. And yet she could be useful, if tamed and properly motivated. She was a cunning and talented fighter, formidable enough in her human form, and deadly as a Lycan. Vampires wouldn't know what to do with one like her, and that would give her an edge for a while. She could be used.

"You are deciding whether or not you should kill me," she stated calmly.

I looked at her face, and was shocked to find a wry smile waiting.

"Well you did just try to kill me," I said.

"Yes," was her reply.

"Hmmm," I mused, "are you going to try again?"

"I think…" She paused a few moments before continuing, a serious look on her face. "Since your immediate response to my attack was not to kill me, I think I should reserve judgment on the subject until I better know your character."

We had arrived at the crux of the matter for me. Whether it was to learn her mind to ferret out assassination plots or to train and groom her to be my second in command, I would have to be on familiar terms with her.

_I have never known another woman but Sonja. _

And in doing so she would come to know me. This pained me, as it somehow made me feel disloyal to the memory of my love. Yet my choices were clear: kill her, or live in her presence, and see if she could be useful to the pack. In an act that displayed her trust that I would not kill her, she turned her back to me and went over to the forgotten chest sitting on the floor at the edge of the pit. She picked it up and clutching it to her breast she turned back to me.

"I thank you sir, for your assistance earlier this evening. And also, for not acting rashly when I could not control my wrath." She said these words with averted eyes and a bowed head. I did not feel I could trust this display, but I accepted it at face value for the time being.

"You are welcome…what is your name?" I asked, surprised that I was genuinely curious.

She looked at me, an odd look in her silver eyes. What could pass for genuine mirth filled her features for a moment.

"No one has asked me that in a very, very long time sir," she said. "It is Li."

We regarded one another silently for a moment. I could only see half of her now, as she was standing partially in shadow. This had the effect of making her look absurdly tiny, nothing more than a wisp of a girl. Her strange eye caught a reflection from the moonlight that was streaming in, and I was reminded of tales of fairies I had heard from gypsy travelers. I knew this was folly to see her in such an innocent light, as she was in fact the most dangerous creature in the fortress, my possible assassin.

"Goodnight Li. We will speak again before too long," I said, before turning my back and slowly walking away, an act which took all of my powers, as I was half sure she would attempt to leap up and tear my head from my shoulders.

No such attempt was made, and I made it back to my quarters in one piece. As I went over the events of the evening in my head, I was reminded of the costs of war, and I felt some regret for the losses that Li had sustained. And yet, despite the enormity of those truths, the thing that hurt my heart the most was this:

_I had said another woman's name. _


	4. Talk

I could not sleep that night, and whether it was vigilance against my potential assassin, or anticipation of what tactical advantage our female Lycan could bestow if she proved loyal I did not know. I summoned Raze to my chambers just as the sun's light broke the horizon.

"Raze. We have a few things to attend to this morning. I had a most unusual conversation last night…"

Raze interrupted me, his gravelly voice more subdued than usual.

"Lucian, I apologize for my transgression yesterday. I knew nothing about Killian's plot to harass the girl. To be completely honest," he said, looking somewhat ashamed, "I did not even know she was female until the fight was over and we both became human. She was…good."

"Yes," I mused, picturing how easily she had manipulated Raze and used his own size against him. "She got the drop on me as well, so don't feel too bad about that. She definitely has talent."

"What do you mean she got the drop on you? She attacked you?" Raze looked furious.

"Save your outrage, my friend. Just answer a few questions for me. I am at a loss – it seems that I have been remiss with regard to keeping track certain…issues. I must know – are there others? Other females, I mean."

"I'm not sure sir. There are women living with the men in the camps surrounding the fortress, and I have heard rumors that there may be female Lycans as well, but up until yesterday I had never seen one. I thought that they were a myth, or a story used to scare little children into not straying too far into the woods."

"I should think the vampires in the woods would be a sufficient deterrent to wandering children. Why would Lycan females be frightening?" I asked, mildly intrigued.

"It is said that they do not require the fortress to protect them from the vampires. They travel in packs and are somehow able to survive in the forest undetected. Apparently there is some folklore that they are the descendants of witches who mated with Lycan men, and therefore possess dangerous and protective magic."

"How charming! Even monsters such as we have fairy tales!" Li's voice called out from behind us both, causing me to turn sharply, Raze crouching and uttering a low snarl. "Easy Raze…we don't want a repeat of last night's events," she purred.

"Raze," I said calmly. My friend immediately relaxed his posture, though he maintained a wide stance and kept his hands at the ready by his sides. "This is Li. I believe you made her acquaintance yesterday." Raze inclined his head forward only slightly, never taking his eyes off her. She laughed good-naturedly.

"Oh, don't take it too badly. I'm sure if we met in true battle and not on the playground you would have fared better," she said with a hint of antagonism in her voice. He did not take the bait, but rather spoke to me without looking away from where Li stood.

"Do you have any more questions for me Lucian, or may I take my leave?"

"You may go. But we need to go over a few tactical issues later. I'm concerned about the eastern front."

"Yes sir." And he was gone.

Li and I stood facing one another. I was again in the position of being able to see her illuminated by light from a window, this time the source being sunlight. She was fully dressed this morning in a man's dark green pants and black tunic, a thick brown belt cinching her waist. She was tiny, and the clothes bore the evidence as both sleeves and cuffs of her pants were rolled up to accommodate her small stature. She had no weapons, at least none that I could see. Her long hair fell straight and black past her elbows, though the front of it was pulled back into a small knot on the top of her head. Her skin was fair, and yet her cheeks and lips were flushed pink. Her eyes looked even more otherworldly in the sunlight, as the steel blue color seemed to have flecks of silver. The color seemed to move, almost like water over stone.

"Sir?" she asked, her brows drawing together.

"Yes," I said absently. I had allowed myself to become absorbed in the details of looking at a woman, and I was saddened by the ramifications of what that might mean. The only emotional life I had was viciousness on the battlefield. The rest was grief, and it belonged to Sonja.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I am here?"

"Oh," I sighed, "I just assumed it was either to kill me or have a chat. Either way I was waiting for you to make the first move."

She laughed amiably, a loud, generous laugh that shocked me enough into feeling mildly involved in the exchange. Oddly, I felt the corners of my mouth turn up into what I imagine could pass for a smile. She moved further into the room, taking the last few steps toward me cautiously. Her eyes were downcast, and her head slightly bowed.

"I am here to talk, sir."

"Oh. Well then…let's have a seat." I gestured awkwardly to a small table and chairs that I never used. We took our seats and regarded one another in silence. She looked uncomfortable in the chair, unable to find a comfortable position.

"Would you prefer it if we stood?" I asked, unsure of how to proceed. It seemed as though she was as physically uncomfortable as I was emotionally.

"No. It's just…well…I'm not all that used to sitting in furniture."

I tried to fathom what that could mean, but came up with nothing.

_What am I supposed to do with her?_

The safest and most logical course seemed to involve interrogation of some kind, so I proceeded.

"What are you used to? Where are you living? How long have you been among us? Where were you before?"

She cut me off with a laugh.

"You do have a lot of questions."

"Yes. And I'm not interested in myths or fairytales. I want to know the truth," I snapped quietly.

"The truth about me?" she asked good-naturedly.

"Yes. I suppose that is it. I don't understand you. One minute you want to kill me, the next you are laughing and teasing as if we were schoolmates. These are serious times as I know you are aware."

She sighed, finally settling into a corner of the chair with her legs folded up beneath her. This had the effect of putting me partially at ease, as I was fairly certain she couldn't suddenly attack from that position. I kept a sharp eye just in case.

"Yes sir these are serious times. My capriciousness was a bane of my existence long before I became Lycan. In fact, I'd have to say that my Lycan qualities have tempered my fickle nature to some extent."

"How so?" I asked while giving her a glacial stare.

_Why are you asking so many questions? _

She was thoughtful for a moment before answering.

"There is a single-mindedness among our kind; a doggedness if you will. It is both our greatest strength and weakness. The ability to pursue a course unrelentingly, to be completely steadfast in battle – these are the things that make the Lycan superior to other warriors. However, this tenacity comes with it inflexibility. We are rigid; bound by temperaments that do not bend. We will only belie that nature under extraordinary circumstances."

"Such as…?"

She eyed me warily. She seemed on the verge of saying something, but thinking better of it, moved in a different direction.

"You had questions," she said, her voice betraying nothing.

"How long have you been Lycan?" I asked without hesitation.

"I'm not entirely sure. It has been a long time, perhaps close to a century."

"A century," I exclaimed, momentarily unable to check my emotion. "You've been living among us for a century!"

She chuckled softly.

"No sir. I only just arrived at your fortress two weeks ago. Before that I lived in the forest." She said these things matter-of-factly. I was incredulous.

"I know a thing or two about what lives out there in those woods. And I don't believe in fairy tales about witches seducing Lycans, and having special powers of protection," I stated forcefully. "A dozen full-grown Lycans could go out in that forest and be decimated by vampires in less than a fortnight, less than a week perhaps. How can you sit here and tell me that you were able to survive for a century on your own and expect me to believe you?"

She stared at me, her silver eyes searching my face as if she was looking for her answers there. It made me feel strange to be scrutinized in such a way. At times it seemed that she was reading something written on my skin, while at others it seemed like she was seeing through me, out the window that was at my back.

"Have you ever wandered out alone, Lucian," she asked distantly, as if in a trance, her eyes seeming to mist-over. The sound of her saying my name with such familiarity struck a painful cord in my chest and I felt anger flash.

_Unfaithful to allow another woman to speak my name_.

"You have done it before…a very long time ago, at the beginning…of the end…" She was suddenly on her knees, her forehead pressed to the floor, gasping for air. "You had to walk out alone," she groaned, "You had to see if they would accept you, if you could be their master…"

Understanding dawned on me. She was speaking of when I went to the cavern of the pure-blood wolves! She was speaking of something that had occurred almost two centuries before!

It seemed that many minutes passed and I waited motionless until she suddenly stood and returned to her chair. I observed that she appeared calmer, but tears dripped unabated from her eyes.

"I was apparently mistaken about the existence of witches," I said quietly. She looked at me sharply, but then relaxed her gaze when she saw that my words were not meant to wound, only make an observation.

"I am no witch," she said shakily. "I just see things sometimes."

I was suddenly very uncomfortable.

_She couldn't know! She couldn't know about me and Sonja! _

"What else did you see?" I asked directly, struggling to maintain my calm.

She looked at me, her eyes wide and unguarded.

"I only saw you alone, walking in the mountains. You were taking a great risk. But you had to know if they could be trusted. You had to know if you could call them…when the time came…" She shook her head, apparently thwarted. I breathed a sigh of relief. She had not seen anything about Sonja, only me.

I allowed her a chance to regain her composure. She folded into herself, wrapping her arms around her knees and keeping her eyes on the floor. When she had reclaimed herself, I returned to my questions, mostly because I felt it was safe to keep the topic of conversation about her.

"When you wandered out, how did it happen? How did you last?"

She smiled weakly, shaking her head a little.

"I don't remember what happened after my husband ripped my child from me. I know that I was cared for by women, for the men were too afraid to touch me. They knew what my husband was and what I would become if I survived. I was unconscious for two or three days. I know that I almost died, because I can remember hearing my baby laughing. I was so close to following that musical sound – it was like hearing sunshine. But the Lycan had taken hold in me, and I woke strong and healed. I managed to take the time to thank my rescuers, who I believe in fact may have been witches," she whispered, eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Then I left. I roamed freely. I lived among no one. I was aware of other Lycans, both male and female, as well as vampires and other creatures too terrible to name. I simply avoided them. They never even knew that I was there."

"Fascinating," I breathed, an unguarded moment, my curiosity getting the better of me again. "Where did you learn to fight?"

"I learned that when I was human," she said simply. "I lived among other slaves from my homeland. They have ways of fighting, engaging the enemy, using the body's energy, whether it be the energy of your own body or that of your opponent – it can be quite effective."

"Apparently," I said my tone apprehensive. I was becoming more and more aware of the precariousness of my situation with this woman. She was dangerous. In human form she was a formidable opponent, as a Lycan she was lethal. She was capable of surviving in hostile territory indefinitely, singlehandedly fighting off foes, possibly evading detection entirely. And to make matters worse she possessed some measure of clairvoyance which meant that she could know her enemies' minds.

I was pondering this final point when she turned to me and said,

"Answer me one question truthfully Lucian and if I am satisfied by your answer I will teach you all of my tricks, pledge my undying loyalty without reservation and serve you for the rest of my life."

Her directness caught me off guard and I almost asked her if she was reading my mind. I considered for a moment before nodding.

"Has it ever been a condition of joining your army that the recruits become Lycan?"

I answered truthfully and without thinking.

"Never."

She seemed momentarily taken aback, color burning in her skin and something frightening flashing in her eyes. Was it rage? I did not know. Her eyes locked with mine, and she regarded me gravely as she rose to her feet. I felt my body stiffen as I stood, preparing myself for battle. We stared at each other in stony silence for what seemed like hours. When she spoke it was with gravity.

"I must beg your forgiveness for my rash behavior last night, sir. I was completely in the wrong, as I was misled to believe that my husband was forced by your rule into becoming a Lycan. I consider my life forfeit, though I hope that you will consider letting me live as I believe that some of my skills may be useful to you in your campaign against the vampires."

A deep-rooted instinct told me that her resolve was genuine, though something in her countenance was unsettling. I considered her offer, carefully weighing my opinions. My thoughts oscillated widely between believing a pact with this woman could be beneficial, and wanting to get as far away from her as possible. She stood in silence, apparently prepared to remain as such until I reached a decision.

"I will accept your offer on one condition," I said quietly.

"Anything sir," she said decidedly.

"You must answer one question truthfully."

A momentary shadow crossed her face, but she nodded.

"What happened to your husband?"

A disconcerting smile crept onto her face.

"I hunted him."

"Ah," I said, my voice detached, but genuine curiosity burned in my mind.

_Why do I care?_

"And?"

She laughed effortlessly, an impish look in her eye.

"He had to sleep sometime," she said conspiratorially.

I was quiet for a moment.

"You are possibly the most frightening creature in this entire fortress," I murmured.

"Oh Lucian…you have no idea," she cackled gleefully. "And now you will get to learn all of my secrets."

"All of them?"

The shadow crossed her face again, but it was gone in a flash.

"We'll see," she said enigmatically.


	5. Blood

During the early sessions of our training, I thought it best to keep the number of men to a minimum, so I selected an elite group of warriors who I believed would benefit most from Li's knowledge. I of course was among them. We trained from sunrise to sunset, breaking only for meals. Li proved to be an agreeable teacher who reveled in the success of her students. She did not appear to be withholding information, and threw herself whole-heartedly into the task of imparting her wisdom.

For my part I was divided. I certainly benefited from the training, but concerns regarding the eastern front of the war weighed heavily on my mind. Victor's coven had grown strong again, despite the decimation that was wrought two centuries ago. Intelligence had revealed that he had a protégé, a vampire named Kraven, who brought a fresh perspective to the situation and had rallied a strong regimen of soldiers and Death Dealers.

Things had been quiet at the fortress for too long, and we had perhaps become lax in our campaign, losing ground at our periphery. With a terrible foreboding I sensed a turn in the tide of the war. The pure-blood wolves were all but extinct, and I feared that without their assistance we would sustain heavy damages. I began to see that I had been negligent in keeping my men in fighting form and I felt the burden of that responsibility daily.

I had been avoiding Li, tolerating her presence only during training. She inspired in me an odd mix of confusion, doubt, and apprehension that I did not entirely understand. Given that my attention to the war was required, I took that as an excuse not to accept her company. For her part she remained respectfully aloof, merely nodding in acknowledgement to my presence. We maintained this quiet truce until one evening when, after learning about a particularly devastating loss of an entire town to the vampire horde, I was walking past a group of men practicing with Li and I heard her voice call out my name,

"Master Lucian?"

I turned toward her reluctantly. We hadn't spoken in over a month, and at the moment I was not in the mood to speak with anyone, least of all her.

"Yes," I replied, my voice clipped. She scrutinized my face, and registering my expression, she walked up to me, her chin lifted somewhat defiantly.

"Master Lucian, I have been running drills with these men for the better part of the day, and they do not understand what it is that I am trying to impart. Would you be averse to helping me in a demonstration?"

I glared down at her, attempting to bore my will into her head with my eyes. One of the last things that my men needed to see right now was their leader turn down a contest with their teacher, but I simply did not have the time to exchange blows in a training exercise. An odd glimmer flashed in her stony eyes, and I thought that I saw a flicker of a smile.

"Oh come on Lucian…it will do you some good," she whispered, "and besides," she added loudly, "I believe I owe you a beating."

She turned her back to me, and walked away removing her heavier outer tunic. I stood motionless for several seconds, debating whether or not to throw her in the dungeon. As if hearing my thought, she threw a mocking smile over her left shoulder. Suddenly resolved, I strode quickly into the center of the pit, which was being used as a makeshift classroom, and swiftly removed my coat. She turned to face me.

"Human or Lycan?" she asked, raising one of her thin brows, a smirk on her lips.

"Lycan," I said acerbically. If she wanted a fight, I would give her one.

"Very well," she said calmly, her silver eyes inscrutable. "Begin," she commanded.

In my mind I allowed the wall that contained my Lycan nature to crumble, and it felt as it always did – like an astonishing relief. I felt my breath leave me as my blood boiled to the surface of my body. Bones and organs shifted. The process was not without pain, but it was overwhelmed by a feeling of inevitability, as if I was always meant to return to this state. The process took no longer than thirty seconds. Looking through my Lycan eyes, I could see things more clearly and yet in a different light. Everything was louder, scents were stronger. I felt like myself, and not. My focus was infinitely more concentrated.

I directed my gaze at my opponent. She too was in Lycan form and was circling me slowly, crouched low to the ground. I recognized this maneuver, knowing what she was about to do and how she had taught me to thwart it, but I did not betray my awareness. She growled at me, as if trying to remind me of the exercise. I was beyond hearing. I could sense that she was more interested in maintaining this as a teaching exercise, and at the precise moment that she let her frustration get the better of her, I attacked.

My initial blow caught her unaware, sending her sprawling. She recovered before I could continue my assault, feigning to the side as I tried to slash at her torso. I felt my feet get knocked out from beneath me. I regrouped rolling onto all fours. She waited, watching to see what I would do next. I stood and made as if I was going to attack from the front with my arms. When she began to execute a block against a frontal assault, I ducked and ran into her with my head and shoulder, knocking her backwards. This took her footwork out of the equation, leaving her only with her teeth and claws, which she put to good use slashing and tearing at my Lycan skin. I reciprocated, making a bloody mess of her face and torso. We were both trying to maneuver our jaws into striking range of the throat, an action that would signal the end of the match. But every time one of us would get close to pinning the other, the losing Lycan would rally and evade the killing stroke.

During battle it was not my habit to feed off of my opponents, as I generally was only interested in making the kill and moving on in order to incur the most casualties. So I was surprised when I sunk my teeth into one of her arms and I actually swallowed the blood that filled my mouth.

_Suddenly all went dim. My consciousness was drawn away to another place. I was standing in a small room with a hearth and a table and two chairs. Dried vegetables hung from the ceiling and sunlight poured in through the window. I heard a strangled cry and then suddenly a woman was thrown into the wall, upsetting the table as she fell. It was Li. Her eyes looked up in the direction of her attacker, and I saw something in them that I'd never seen before. _

_Fear. _

"_No! Please!" she pleaded, but the man grabbed her and pulled her roughly to her feet. _

"_I am leaving woman," the man snarled through clenched teeth, "and when I return we will leave this place and I will take you somewhere far away from your makeshift little family. And you will give me a son as a good wife should." He backhanded her hard. _

_My focus shifted elsewhere._

_I was standing in the same house, but this time by the hearth. A different man was kneeling before the light of the fire, whittling a child's toy out of a piece of wood. He finished and placed it in a chest by his feet. I recognized it as the chest that Li had fought Raze for on the first day that we met. _

_Li came bounding into the room, her arms filled with wild flowers. She beamed, a wide smile graced her lips and her eyes were radiant, the silver somehow softened. When she put down the flowers I could see that she was pregnant. She crossed the room and was swept up into the arms of the man. He kissed her tenderly on the forehead, whispering words I could not hear. She looked up into his eyes and her expression said everything – she was deeply in love with this man. I felt a pang in my chest as I recalled Sonja looking at me with such intensity, devotion and trust. I averted my gaze, not wanting to intrude on their moment. _

_Suddenly I heard the sound of splitting wood and I turned to see the man from the first vision break through the front door. He surveyed the scene and then rushed forward, turning Lycan as he advanced. Li's scream was terrible as the he tore the head from her lover's shoulders. He turned toward her pausing for only for a moment before he knocked her to the floor. I could feel myself being withdrawn from the scene, but not before hearing a rending sound and a blood-curdling scream._

When I came back to myself I was in human form. I lay still on my back for several seconds, taking stock of my physical injuries. While they were all surface wounds that would heal quickly, they were abundant, and I could feel the warmth of my blood as it ran across my skin. I turned to my side and slowly sat up while setting a minor break to one of the bones in my forearm. I looked around for my opponent.

She was lying on her side with her back to me struggling to sit up. I suppressed a gasp when I saw the extent of the damage that I had done to her flesh. Dozens of livid red gashes covered the length of her back. I looked away, feeling ashamed that I had not only invaded her privacy, but had also so damaged her physically.

"Lucian!" she yelled, furious.

"Yes," I said calmly, maintaining my averted gaze.

"Would you please come over here and give me a hand. It seems that you've dislocated my shoulder," she seethed.

I turned back toward her, noting with a measure of relief that the gashes on her back were already fading. I looked down at my own skin and saw that I was likewise healing. Standing and walking to her side, I saw that the students in the class were all standing together looking uneasy.

"Ugh…look at you! What a mess! I almost took out one of your eyes. What happened to you? Suddenly you just stop…I thought I killed you for a second...well it serves you right for pulling that stunt and not following the drill…" She said these things all at once without checking to see if I was responding. I looked at her face. A slash that started at her left temple and ended at the opposite corner of her mouth was just closing and vanishing. "Well come on," she snapped, holding out her right wrist in her left hand. I took her wrist and placed my other hand on her collarbone near her shoulder.

"Ready?" I asked, my voice sounding odd to my own ears. She looked at me piercingly, noticing something was amiss.

"Yes."

Without hesitating I pulled sharply on her arm, feeling the bone snap back into the joint. She did not flinch nor make a noise. She was suddenly on her feet yelling at her students.

"I don't think that I need to tell any of you that this was not the technique that I was trying to teach you today. We will start from the beginning tomorrow. Class dismissed."

I had donned my coat and was leaving the pit when I heard her following close behind.

"What happened back there?" she asked impatiently, pulling her tunic over her head as we walked. "I know things aren't going well with the war, which is something that I'd like to speak with you about…"

"Not now Li," I said through clenched teeth. I wanted to get away from her. I couldn't stop thinking of the look in her eyes when she saw her love die.

_That is what I looked like. That is the face of true agony. _

We strode into my council room and I walked to the window, wrapping my coat around me as I felt a sudden cold foreboding. I did not look at her, but I knew she was standing just behind my shoulder.

"I am sorry that I disrupted your class," I said, trying to throw her off by keeping her angry. That was not to be.

"Lucian…what is wrong?"

"I think that my apology should be sufficient…" I started to say, trying to infuse my voice with ice, hoping to avoid what I knew was coming.

She was silent. I waited for several seconds before turning to face her. I could not meet her gaze.

"I saw something," I said quietly, pausing for a moment to collect my thoughts.

"In my blood," she gasped.


	6. Friends

We stared at each other for several minutes without saying anything. For my part, I barely breathed. First and foremost, I was concerned that she would attack and therefore I held myself ready to retaliate if need be. But beneath the surface I could feel something building in me. I tried to fight it off, to bury it deep within my heart. However after a few minutes I was humming with it, and I had to concentrate on not fleeing from the room to escape from the pain.

_Her face was my face. She watched her love die, just as I had watched Sonja. She had lost her child… _

Li's countenance changed many times during this interlude, ranging from outright rage to sadness to an expression that I could not identify, something between curiosity and uncertainty. She seemed to be battling her own demons, and I left her to them as I battled my own.

After what seemed like hours, Li finally spoke. Her voice was calm and dispassionate.

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly and quickly.

She was quiet for a time, studying my face carefully.

"I believe you," she said gravely.

I was unsure of how to respond so I nodded my head and turned away from her, trying to shield myself from her stony eyes.

"I feel compelled to explain a few things," she began. "The story of my life is more complicated than the story I told you when we met. When I was a girl my father sold me into slavery. The things that I saw were terrible, and some of the things that were done to me were worse. Another slave, a terrible man, won my hand in marriage off a bet with a higher-ranking slave. I was fourteen." She paused for a long moment before going on.

"Some time later, we came into the ownership of a new master, who did not treat us as slaves. We were allowed to have our own dwellings, our own gardens and livestock, and to function much like a town. All he asked was that we help him farm his land and keep it safe. I made friends. I considered many of them to be family."

"My husband refused to be happy with our life. He was an evil man who could not control his anger. He jumped at the chance to join your army, not because he wanted a better life for us, but because he wanted to see violence, and he wanted to be free from the restrictions that he perceived were being placed upon him. He wanted the opportunity to take me away from the life that I had built, and press me into servitude.

"It was easier for me to tell you that I was given away to another man by my slave master, and to not comment on my feelings about it. In truth, the man to whom I was given was my master's son. It was an arrangement made out of love. We were a perfect match…" she gasped.

I turned back to her just in time to see a tear drop heavily from her lashes to her cheek. I was torn. Part of me wanted to reach out to her, to let her know that I understood a measure of the pain that she was in. But I was possessive of my grief for it was all I truly had left of Sonja, save her medallion, and to share that sorrow was to lose a part of it, however weary I was of carrying the pain alone. I studied Li's face for a long time, weighing my options.

"I can tell that you are hiding something terrible Lucian; something that is causing you great pain. I know what it costs to carry such a burden," she said gently but her eyes bored into mine.

I felt the glaciers of ice in my chest heave against the ground upon which she was standing, ground that she seemed willing to share.

"Can't you use your sight to see what it is?" I whispered. "And save me the pain of having to tell you my wretched tale."

She took a tentative step toward me, her hand held out gently as if to place it on my chest. She stopped just short of touching me.

"To tell it could help you to heal. And I won't use my sight to see into your heart Lucian, your mind yes, but never your heart."

"I do not have the words right now my friend," I said, marveling at the gentle tone of my voice. "Suffice it to say that we have suffered similar blows, and for my part I walked away from my battle with only half of my soul." I drew a long breath and sighed. "I must leave you now. We will speak again soon."

"Yes," she said, a twinge of sadness in her voice as she let her hand drop away from where it was hovering over my chest. After a moment her eyes brightened slightly in an odd, mischievous way. "We should have another demonstration for my class tomorrow."

I chuckled softly.

"Today's brawl wasn't enough for you?"

"Oh never…I'll never get enough of a good scrap," she said, her silvery eyes twinkling. She seemed to have recovered slightly from her disclosure.

I smiled and bowed my head slightly, taking my leave of her and walking hurriedly from the room.

That night I could barely sleep. I had called her my friend, and it was based on genuine sentiment. I had little experience with having friends. As pack leader there was no room for familiarity with my subordinates. They must do what I said without question. When I was a slave living in the compound I had enjoyed some camaraderie with my kinsmen, but it was forced by proximity, not a matter of choosing. Sonja had been my dearest friend, but we had grown up together such as it was. Adulthood had not afforded the time or the opportunity for such matters. It felt comforting that I could finally have a friend, and yet that the friend was a female was troubling. I imagined Li's face, the shape of her eyes, the flash of her unexpected smile, the curve of her neck when she looked back at me over her shoulder. Before today we had not been speaking, but apparently I had been looking at her and not realizing it. I was filled with a feeling not unlike anticipation, but also guilt.

When I slept I dreamt of wild dogs.

The next day I had a meeting with several of my men regarding the eastern front. On a whim I sent for Li, wanting her council on the latest intelligence. With her history of surviving alone in the hostile territory between ours and the vampires, she was unique in her perspective and may be privy to useful information. She entered the room and I was momentarily struck by the sight of her. She wore a dark blue shift, something a working woman might wear and nothing like the usual tunics and pants that she wore. Her hair was long and down. Our eyes met and she smiled amiably. I found myself smiling back at her. She came directly to my side.

"I'm sorry it took me so long and I did not dress for a war meeting," she whispered with a sidelong glance. "One of the women in the camp outside of the fortress was giving birth, and I was summoned to help."

I nodded quietly, wondering where a warrior such as she would learn the skills to be a midwife.

As if in answer to my thought she smiled and whispered,

"I've lived a long time Lucian…I've picked up more than just one or two tricks."

"Apparently," I chuckled.

We listened to the reports, most of which were disheartening. It seemed that we were quickly losing ground on the eastern front.

"Caleb," I said, addressing the man with whom I entrusted the most dangerous of all our intelligence missions. "What have we heard from Tanis?"

Suddenly I heard a hiss at my side and I turned to see Li fall to her knees, her eyes glazed over. I knelt in front of her, placing my hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"Li, what do you see?"

"An army…a vampire named Kraven. Tanis will tell you to meet Kraven. A blood oath will be sworn," her eyes rolled back in her head, her porcelain skin turning alarmingly pale. She became more agitated as she went on. "There will be…there will be…fire!" she screamed, falling forward into my arms, sobbing. Raze hurried forward, a look of concern on his face. I nodded my head, trying to impart that I had known that this could happen. I placed my hand on the back of her head cradling her to me, but I was also deep in thought. A blood oath will be sworn? With a vampire? I did not think that scenario was likely. I waited for a while until it seemed that she had calmed down. When her breathing regulated I released her and allowed her to settle on her knees on the floor. Her eyes were dazed, and she seemed to be in some kind of a trance. I rose and turned to my men, keeping close to her side. They were standing there, a mix of concern and confusion on all of their faces. I regarded Caleb who looked paler than the rest.

"Caleb?" I asked.

"Sir, she is right. Tanis alluded to a meeting with Kraven. I spoke with no one regarding this matter. How did she know?"

"The answer to that question will have to wait. Caleb, I will meet with you here in two hours time to discuss this in detail. For now you are all dismissed." My voice was firm and clipped. The men filed out of the room quickly, with only Raze lingering behind. He was staring at Li, a look of foreboding in his copper colored eyes. He looked at me and I reassured him with a nod, prompting him to follow the others from the room.

When they had all left I bent down to Li, who was still staring despondently into the shadows of the room.

"Li," I said gently, to no response. "Li," I pressed more firmly.

"Yes Lucian," her voice was as far away as her eyes.

"Can you stand?"

"No," was her distant response. Without hesitating I picked her up, her body weighing nothing in my arms.

_This was the creature that had nearly torn the flesh from my bones yesterday? _

I walked with her out of the council room, her head leaning on my shoulder. I took her into an empty bedchamber, sniffing the air as I walked in to ensure that it was not too stale from disuse. I lay her on the bed, only a slight trace of dust wafted from the sheets. She turned to her side and curled up into a ball facing me. Her eyes were still unfocused, lost in the ether of her visions.

"Li, I must go."

"Yes."

"I will return in a few hours. You can rest here. You will be safe."

"No."

"No what? No you can't rest?

"No," she replied, a single tear filling her eye and then slipping from the lid. "I am not safe…none of us are."


	7. Darkness

Questioning Caleb yielded no revelations as Tanis had been tight-lipped with regard to what Kraven's intentions might be. It seemed unlikely that this boded well; particularly when Li's violent reaction was taken into account. I reconvened with Raze and a few of our scouts and tried to ascertain the true extent of our losses at the periphery. It seemed that the borders were indeed retracting, a fact that filled me with icy apprehension.

When the sun crossed half of its path across the sky, I returned to find Li still in the bedchamber. She was standing by the window, the length of her hair falling most of the way down her back. Her fingers were digging into the backs of her crossed arms. I approached slowly expecting her to turn at any moment, but she waited until I was at her side before she acknowledged my presence.

"I apologize for my outburst earlier sir," she began, her voice hard. "Sometimes I'm overcome by what I see – I can't seem to predict when that is going to happen."

"Don't give it another thought," I said matter-of-factly, sensing that any attempt on my part to comfort would embarrass her further. She was after all a warrior at heart, and as such I understood that to show vulnerability of any kind would go against the grain of her composition. "I am appreciative of the information that you gleaned. I would be interested to hear more…if you are ready."

"Of course," she stated, turning to face me sharply and standing at attention almost as if on a pin. Her eyes were stony, as if the silver had been leached and replaced with something harder. "You have to understand that it only comes to me in pieces, so unfortunately I cannot give you a full picture. Nothing that I see is definite or written in stone. Choices can always be made at the last moment that will alter the course of what I have seen."

"What do you mean?" I asked, genuinely intrigued.

"Well for one, I saw myself living a long happy life with my lover and our child," she sighed, her voice dropping low with regret. "I curse the day that I had that vision…it made what happened in reality a harder burden to bear."

We were silent for a time, but she went on before long.

"I saw a meeting between you and Kraven, but it was wrong…it was not a clandestine encounter as was alluded to by Caleb. The air smelled of blood, both vampire and Lycan. I saw you marked by Kraven, though how or by what I do not know. And then the fortress was in flames." She stopped, her body visibly shaking. I reached for her arm and gently led her to the bed, pressing her to sit. She did so grudgingly, looking up into my face with a mixture of foreboding and reluctance.

"Is there more?" I asked.

"There is, but it is even more puzzling. I saw you alone following a shadow into the wilderness. I do not know what the shadow was Lucian, but it filled me with a terrible dread. I have felt it before…" She stopped.

"What?" I asked. "When did you feel it?"

"It was when I was alone in the woods. Remember that I told you that I lived unseen among other creatures too terrible to name?"

"Yes."

"They were something different from us, Lycans and vampires I mean. They were more subtle, existing not quite in the physical realm, but also not entirely in the ether. They were darkness. I avoided them as much as possible."

"And you saw me follow them?"

"I don't know, like I said all I saw was a shadow. But it filled me with a foreboding."

I walked away from her, pondering this new information. What would possess me to leave my pack; especially now when they needed me the most? I had so many grand designs for the future, ways of defeating the vampires that would take decades, if not centuries to reach fruition. It seemed unlikely that I would leave.

"I have to think about this," I said, more to the corner of the room than to Li. "I will have to depend on you, my friend, to not allow me to go wandering off into the wilderness following some siren song." I turned back to her with a smirk, only to see that her face was grave, her eyes turned down to the floor. "What is it?" I walked toward her and kneeled at her feet.

She was reluctant in her answer, refusing to meet my eyes.

"I will not be here…we will part company before you leave the fortress," was her enigmatic reply.

I felt a sting in my chest, my breath caught momentarily in my throat. A pain that was unexpected and yet familiar crept into my heart.

_Careful Lucian._

I maintained my calm, but my mind was flooded with questions, and the pain in my chest spread slowly up to my throat and down my torso into my gut.

_Do you feel pain at the thought of losing this woman? How can you betray Sonja?_

I stood up, straightening to my full height but remaining standing in front of her. She looked very small sitting on the bed, her gaze continuing to remain aloof. I wanted her to say something, anything that would explain this strange admission, and yet I felt powerless to press the issue. To do so would be to admit that the thought of her absence would bother me, and to speak those words out loud would be an affront to my beloved.

The silence became pervasive as it seemed that neither of us was breathing. Finally after an eternity Li reached out tentatively and took my hand. She brought it to her cheek where I felt the moist trail of a tear. My resolve deteriorated somewhat, as I was suddenly struck with an overwhelming thought. Would Sonja want me to be alone forever? Had the tables been turned would I have wanted her to mourn me indefinitely? This time the voice in my head was not my own, but that of my beloved.

_Enough is enough Lucian. Take comfort in her, and allow her to do the same._

I knelt in front of Li again, placing my other hand on her face and gently lifting her gaze to mine.

"I want to tell you Li," I began, my voice barely a whisper. "I too had a great love. What we had was forbidden and for it we paid the ultimate price: she with her life and the life of our unborn child and for my part I was left with an eternity to mourn them. I have never spoken of this to another. I have been surrounded by my kinsmen for nearly two centuries and yet I have been alone…that is until I met you."

I stroked her hair gently, allowing myself to remember what it felt like to touch another being in kindness and not in battle. My hand slid down and rested in the crook between her neck and shoulder. The skin there was bare, and I was captivated by the warmth and softness of her skin. Sonja's skin had been smooth and cold, a thrilling contrast to my own warm, pliable skin. I found comfort in the fact that Li was different. I was not replacing Sonja. I was simply allowing for the existence of someone else.

"I do not wish to be parted from you," I said quietly, rubbing my thumb along the line of her jaw. "So if we can make decisions to stop what you have foreseen from happening, I would be grateful."

Her brows furrowed ever so slightly and something dark passed through her steel-colored eyes, but then she sighed and allowed her countenance to ease.

"We shall do our best, my dearest friend," she said softly, a faint smile gracing her lips. She placed her hand gently on my cheek. I turned my face, placing my nose and mouth in her hand, kissing her palm and breathing in the scent of her. We both perfectly still, and it seemed like the room was humming with the energy between us.

"Lucian!" Raze's voice called from the corridor, moving quickly in our direction. I stood, reluctantly retreating from her touch. Her hand remained hovering in the air where my face had been, but she allowed her arm to drop when Raze entered the room. He was in such a state of agitation that I felt a swell of apprehension, and Li was on her feet by my side in an instant.

"What is it?" I asked, the edge in my voice betraying my disquiet. I saw Li stiffen out of the corner of my eye.

"There is some…thing outside of the fortress. It is asking to speak with you," Raze said, his voice full of fear, an uncommon emotion in the big Lycan.

Li growled. I did not need to consult her because I already knew…the darkness had come for me.


	8. Harbinger

At first I thought that I was trapped in a blood memory. Time seemed out of sync, moving slowly one moment and speeding up the next. My surroundings were a blur and then suddenly an object would jump into sharp focus, striking and clear before my eyes. I was standing just outside of the gate of the fortress in an area very familiar to me as it had been my home for all of my immortal life, and yet I felt as if I was looking upon an alien landscape. The only constant during this ever-shifting scene was the creature standing before me. I call it a creature only because it held the rough shape of a man and yet I could make out no face or distinct feature. It too seemed to shift in and out of focus, an odd light emanating from it, and yet suffused in darkness. I could not elucidate what time of day it was when I left the fortress, for there had seemed to be a late afternoon sun in the sky, and yet now all was dim.

Its voice was sinister and unlike any voice I had ever heard. It was my fervent desire to get away, and yet I was riveted to the spot where I stood. I could in no way respond to the words that it was speaking to me, if in fact it was speaking out loud at all. I had the suspicion that only I could hear its words and they were all in my head.

Suddenly I felt a searing pain across my arm and chest and all went dark.

When I woke it was night and I was lying in my bed. My body was hot and slick with sweat, my senses dull and heavy. I was overcome with a strange dizziness and though I could sense the presence of others in my room, I was unable to focus on any of them. Consciousness slipped away from me again.

I opened my eyes and stared up into the ceiling over my bed. Long forgotten cobwebs hung down and I could see them drifting lazily in the breeze that blew in from the western window. The sun was setting, which meant that I had been sleeping for at least a night and a day. A shifting sound came from my left and I turned my head slowly to ascertain its source. Li was sitting in a chair by my bedside. She was asleep, her head resting back and to the side, her hair falling across part of her face. It struck me how unguarded and peaceful she appeared; a state in which I had never seen her. She was wearing the same faded blue shift that she had been wearing at our last meeting. I began to wonder how much time had passed. I started to turn to the side to reach out to wake her when I felt a blistering pain across my chest. It was my sharp intake of breath that woke Li from her slumber.

"Ah," I hissed. "What happened?" I groped at my arm and chest which indeed felt as if I had sustained a burn. Wet plasters covered the area making it impossible to touch the skin.

_Odd…I would have healed from a burn._

"Shhh, Lucian. It is okay, you will be fine," Li soothed, sitting forward in the chair and reaching out to remove my hand from the plasters.

"Like hell," I choked, struggling to come up onto my elbows. "I have never had an injury that I did not heal from almost immediately, and yet here I lie with wounds inflicted a night and a day ago."

"A fortnight," Li whispered.

"What?" I gasped. "A fortnight? How can that be? It could not have been more than a day or two since…" I was at a loss for words. I stared incredulously into Li's eyes, half imploring and half daring her to respond. She seemed unsure of what to say and a terrible foreboding suffused my being.

"What happened to me Li?" I asked finally through gritted teeth.

Li regarded me warily for a moment, but then rose from the chair and seated herself on the bed by my side. She placed her hand gently on top of mine, but her eyes were cold and hard, like those of a soldier.

"What do you remember Lucian?" she asked, her voice like stone.

Her icy countenance was unsettling and I was again menaced with a feeling of apprehension. I focused on the facts in my head, trying to collect them as I would the details for a war briefing, but they were fragmented and confused.

"I walked out of the fortress. It seems like it was only a day or two ago. When I went out, the sun must have disappeared behind a cloud, because it became dark. There was a man – no, a creature of some kind. It seemed like a man at first, but then it had no…no…" I stopped; sweat beading on my forehead as I fell back against the pillows.

"Body?" Li offered warily.

"Yes," I whispered. "But it was made of some substance. It told me that I was going to be leaving soon, that I would be joining it. It said that my birth had been foretold, that though my offspring had been thwarted once I had a part to play in another birth, but that I needed certain knowledge before I could be ready for the next phase." My voice trailed off as I became entangled in the memory of its otherworldly voice. I saw the darkness that was its presence, a strange red light emanating from where its eyes should be.

Before I knew what was happening, Li was shaking me by both shoulders violently, and the burning across my chest had redoubled in intensity.

"Lucian," she yelled, her voice remaining hard yet with an edge of panic. I heard her say to someone else, "We are losing him…"

I applied all of my mental energy to return to the moment. It was like pulling myself out of mud. I sat up hard and fast, knocking Li off of the bed and into Raze who was standing behind her. He caught her under the arms, setting her down lightly on her feet. Her eyes never left mine. I reached up reflexively and ripped off the plasters, looking down to determine what type of injury I had sustained that still burned. I was shocked to see not redness or blistering welts, but my own flesh uncorrupted. And yet I felt the fire as if a branding iron had just been placed on my breast. I ran my hand over the skin and I could feel an unnatural heat coming from beneath the surface. I felt around to other areas on my torso, but they felt normal.

"What is this devilry?" I asked to no one in particular.

"That may be the exact question," Li said warily.

"What?" I snapped, my patience long since lost.

"Lucian, I am going to tell you what I saw when you walked out of the fortress," Li began. "When you left it was late afternoon. You stopped just short of the stables. The creature that you described was there, but also not. It seemed to be mere shadow or shimmer, depending on the light. You stood there for the better part of six hours, not appearing to move or speak. When I attempted to approach you I was blocked by some kind of barrier. We could not get to you…" Li's voice cracked, her eyes shining with unshed tears of frustration. "Finally, you were released, and you fell to the ground screaming about fire…that your heart was ashes. We could see no burns, but I applied a plaster to try to sooth your pain. You've been unconscious ever since."

I was quiet for a long time as I tried to make sense of what Li had told me. The burning had not subsided a whit, but I ignored it.

"Was that creature the darkness that you spoke of from your vision?" I asked.

Li nodded solemnly.

"And you have no idea what kind of creature it is?"

"It was a harbinger," Raze said quietly. "There were legends surrounding their existence in my homeland. They often appear at times of great crisis, though I have never heard of anyone speaking with one before."

"Nor have I," Li agreed. "We have similar legends in the east regarding creatures of portent, but they are often seen as malevolent messengers from the underworld."

"But what would such things want with a Lycan?" I asked skeptically. "We are considered to be among the damned are we not? These are human legends after all…what does any of this have to do with us?"

"This birth it spoke of must be of great import – did it not say something about you being involved in the birth of something?" Li's brow was furrowed and she was absently picking up the bits of plaster I had torn from my chest. Without speaking she motioned for me to lie down, which I did. She sat at my side again and began to replace the soothing mixture, adding new liquid to it from a bowl. The fire subsided but was not extinguished.

"Raze," Li said mildly, "Will you please go and fetch Lucian something to eat? He hasn't eaten solid food for some time," she added absently.

"Of course," Raze mumbled, turning on his heel and leaving the room, knowing full well that he was being dismissed.

Li was quiet for a long time, fretting over the plaster and then sponging my brow. Her hand lingered on my cheek for a moment, but she would not look into my eyes. I reached up and took her hands into my own.

"What is it my friend?" I asked gently.

Li's shoulders sagged, her chin dropping forward to her chest.

"I've been so worried for you," she whispered. "All I have wanted is to see your eyes open again and to know that you are going to be alright. Now more than ever I am convinced that you will not be alright. I must ask you a difficult question." She lifted her eyes to mine, the flint of the soldier apparent in her silver irises. "You said that your woman and your unborn child perished as a result of your forbidden love…what was the nature of your unborn child?" She said these words quickly and without emotion, but I could see something behind her eyes that spoke of what it cost her to ask.

I was momentarily stung by both the question and the memories it evoked. She must have seen the change in my face because she her breathing stopped and she tried to remove her hands from mine. I held them fast.

"It is okay," I murmured. "You caught me off guard with your question." I smiled gently, trying to put her at ease. "I hadn't thought of mine and Sonja's child as being the offspring that the creature was referring to, but I think that you must be right."

"Sonja was her name," Li implored, her tone feather light.

A bittersweet pain seared through me that had nothing to do with the continued burning in my chest.

_She knows her name. No one knows her name anymore. _

"Yes, that was her name. Before the Lycans became free and I was Viktor's slave, I fell in love with his only daughter." I paused to allow her to absorb the full meaning of my words. Her eyes suddenly grew wide and she gasped.

"A vampire!" She seemed shocked, but then a knowing smile came to her lips and she chuckled softly. "Of course, leave it to you Lucian to pick the most dangerous fruit from the deadliest tree. You do enjoy a challenge, don't you?"

"Right now I'm enjoying seeing a smile on your face," I said lightly, brushing a bit of hair away from her face and tucking it over her shoulder.

"Your child would have been a merging of the bloodlines," she said thoughtfully.

"Yes."

"Perhaps that was supposed to happen, and now because it didn't…" she paused respectfully, "you will play a role in another vampire-Lycan birth."

We were both quiet, and I could feel the implications of her theory settle like a stone around our necks. I felt her pull away, and in the instant before she slipped from my grasp I sat up and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"No," I said simply, but firmly.

"Lucian, there is a path that you are already on from which I will not dissuade you. I have seen it –I will be gone in a matter of days…"

"What? That cannot be! I will not be parted from you, prophesies and visions be damned." My voice was heated. I pulled her closer into an embrace, pressing my forehead to hers. Her hands rose to my chest in a half-hearted effort to push away, but then of her own volition she wrapped her arms around my neck pulling herself tighter to me. The burning in my chest waned at the press of her body against mine. The sudden relief brought on by her touch provoked a strong response in me. I suddenly wanted to press every inch of my flesh against hers. My need was overwhelming.

My hands crept up her back and taking her head in my hands I pulled her face to mine, kissing her deeply. The warmth of her was amazing, as was the way her skin yielded beneath my fingers. She suddenly broke the kiss, pressing her face to my cheek.

"Lucian…we must stop. This will only make it harder later."

I gathered her hair through my fingers, cradling her head in my hands and looking deeply into her eyes.

"For one, that is not true. To feel like this and do nothing would be harder. And…" I began, running my hands down her sides and picking her slight form up, turning to lay her gently on the bed next to me. I leaned over her, lightly kissing her lips. "You are not going anywhere."


	9. Sonja

I kept my eyes closed when I woke in the dark and allowed myself three breaths.

_One._

The burning in my chest had abated to not much more than unnatural warmth. I was grateful for the reprieve; while I was well accustomed to physical pain it never lingered.

_Two._

Li was beside me, her warm, lithe form pressed to my side and her head resting lightly on my outstretched arm. Without opening my eyes I turned my face toward her and breathed in the scent of her hair. She did not stir.

_Three._

I considered the implausibility of ever having been able to have such a moment with Sonja, to simply rest and sleep together. I allowed my mind to linger there for only a moment before extricating my arm from beneath Li's head and slipping silently from the bed. In an instant I was on my feet, eyes closed and breath bated.

The faint scent of lavender which had woken me intensified. The delicate clink of fine chainmail grew louder and louder as its bearer approached. I felt the thrill of ice cold fingers trail lightly down my arm as the trespasser stopped directly in front of me. I dared not open my eyes, not because I believed it was Sonja, rather I dreaded the notion that it could be.

"Blacksmith," she breathed, her voice low and husky as it had been in life.

I steeled myself, commanding all of my mental energy to let me see the truth before finally opening my eyes.

She stood before me in all of her regal glory – tall, voluptuous figure swathed in the sheerest chainmail gown, dark hair pouring over her shoulders and down her back, flawless flesh – fair as frost, eyes dark browed and cobalt-shining, lips full and smirking, exposing the hint of a fang.

Concealing my emotions, I allowed a small breath of relief to escape.

"You are not Sonja," I said quietly but with conviction. She was not surprised by my declaration, but the smirk widened into a smile. Sharp vampiric teeth glinted in the moonlight streaming in the window.

"Not getting anything past you," she quipped, though in a reserved manner, much as Sonja might have done. I watched stunned as she turned and walked away, only to turn back and frown at me in a familiar way. Her mannerisms were indistinguishable from Sonja's!

"I wish to talk," she began regarding me severely and continuing haughtily, "and though my muse may have favored you in this state, I would prefer that you put some clothes on and come away with me at once."

"Your muse?" I asked feeling my patience wane.

"Yes…the vampire whose face this is," she said, running her fingers along her cheekbone. "This is the face you see most in your mind and hold closest to your heart; I thought it might be useful if I came as someone you know, so I plucked a bit of her out of you the last time we spoke." She indicated my chest where the scorching had been.

"The last time? We've met before…" I trailed off as comprehension dawned. "The harbinger."

She said nothing, but tipped her head slightly in confirmation while raising an eyebrow as if to remind me of her request.

"I'm not leaving," I stated simply, pulling on a pair of trousers.

A few moments passed during which she seemed to be considering something. Suddenly a light entered her bright blue eyes and she walked fluidly to the foot of the bed. I had to suppress a very strong urge to shift into my Lycan form as a nearly imperceptible danger became apparent. A low growl escaped my chest.

"You have fear for your lover," she murmured, running her hand along the bedclothes and staring at Li in a way that was both disinterested and unsettling. "You should worry for her…but not because of me," she said coldly. "Your paths are separate blacksmith, but I think that she has already told you that."

I risked a look at Li who was laying with her back to me, black hair spreading out and covering her shoulders like a cloak. Her breathing was slow and regular, the sound of sleep.

"You are a warrior; it is what you were born to be. The time is drawing near for you to return to battle. The witch will not play a part in the next phase of your development," she said, regarding Li dispassionately and then turning her bracing gaze on me. "We are only interested in maintaining the integrity of the continuum, and the humans are threatening that."

I looked at her and was assaulted by memories of Sonja. Forcing them to the back of my mind I focused on my questions.

"What continuum? And how are the humans a threat?" I centered on reason, since to my mind this conversation had taken a turn toward madness.

"You don't think the world is just made up of vampires, Lycans and humans?" she asked, a smirk on her lips and brow raised in true Sonja form.

"Clearly I know that is not the case," I muttered coldly lowering my head slightly to indicate that I acknowledged the existence of her kind.

"Excellent," she affirmed. "So now imagine that you are standing in the courtyard of your fortress with every Lycan in your army, shoulder to shoulder. Take that number and multiply it by fifty and you might approach the number of different types of entities there are in the world."

I stared at her incredulously.

"What? How can that be? I have been alive for the better part of two centuries…I think I would know if there were tens of thousands of different breeds of beings walking the earth."

She laughed good naturedly, seeming pleased by my response.

"Not all of us are as…oh, what is the word?" she asked, tapping her lip with her fingertip. "Grounded, perhaps? Many of the creatures we are talking about are substantially larger than you blacksmith, and many are infinitesimally smaller. Most do not burden themselves with being known, or seen, or even with existence on the same plane as you. Some are gods, exalted and divine, and others are demons damned beyond anything any Lycan or vampire ever dreamed. There are beings who were never born and yet exist eternally, and those who flash in and out of existence like the twinkling of the stars. Lycans, vampires…you are among the few who have thrown in your lot with the humans, and now all of that is about to change."

I found myself staggered for a second time, grasping at the meaning of all she had just related.

"How?"

"The humans are changing again. Their power in the physical plane has waxed and waned over the course their history, but it about to reach a turning point. They are going to move into a new age – reason will flourish, their numbers will cover the earth, they will conquer much of what has been holding them back. Creatures like Lycans and vampires that have had some power and yet are considered damned, will be snuffed out and swept from the earth in the tide of human progress. You must go underground for a time if you are to survive. That and you will have to change."

"What is it to you? Why should the harbinger care if a handful of breeds are lost?"

"We step in because we are in the business of keeping a balance. Species lost…or created," she paused for a moment, and I thought I saw a momentary flicker of something in her eyes, but then it was gone. "We are concerned with the range of existence, and to lose both Lycan and vampire, both human-originated species at once, would be disastrous."

"Wait, what do you mean both? Is one of the species to be lost?"

She did not answer.

"If one of the species will be lost, why would you favor the Lycan by coming and giving me this information?"

She laughed, the sound of hammers striking an anvil, her eyes shining.

"How do you know that we haven't sent an emissary to the vampires as well?"She asked, her brow raised roguishly.

"I see," I said, feeling more and more disenchanted with my visitor however familiar or well loved her face might be. "What role am I to play in this?"

She approached from the end of the bed, stopping just in front of me. She stood very close, and though her body gave off no heat the scent of lavender was coming off of her in waves. She tipped her head up slightly so that she was looking at me down her nose just like Sonja used to when she was putting on a show for her father. Despite the fact that I knew that this was not Sonja I felt the old mixture of indignity and apprehension.

"You are the father of your kind," she purred. "Don't you want your species to be the victors?"

"Interesting choice of words," I muttered.

"You must come away with us for a time," she sighed, running an icy fingertip up my arm. "We have knowledge to impart."

"How can I leave my men?" Without thinking I turned my head and looked at Li.

The harbinger took my face in her frozen grip, turning it away from Li and forcing me to look into her eyes, which had now taken on a reddish glow. I felt an overwhelming desire to flinch away, but was unable to move as if caught in a spell.

"You will instruct your men to go underground. The witch has her own path to follow."

At that moment Li convulsed and I tore myself from the creature's grasp to rush to her side. I could see from her pallor that she was lost in a vision, but I tried to rouse her nevertheless.

"The witch has the advantage in that she can see the true nature of her path. She can trust her own eyes to lead her in the right direction." The harbinger walked toward us, and I placed myself in front of Li. "As for your path blacksmith, you will have to take my word for it."

"How do I know that you are not causing Li's vision…that you are not manipulating us both?"

She did not answer but only smiled hollowly, white fangs flashing in the dark. The red glow had disappeared from her eyes, and she backed away from me, head slightly bowed as if in deference.

"The vampires will attack in a fortnight," she whispered. "You must be ready to go."

"Lucian?" Li gasped. I turned to her, cradling her head in my hands, seeking out her cool silver gaze.

"Leave us alone. I need some time to think," I called out to the harbinger, turning back but seeing only the empty chamber – she had vanished. I returned my attention to Li who had sat up and was looking around the room in an agitated and distraught manner, a low growl escaping her lips. I reached out to place my hand on her shoulder but withdrew it quickly when she hissed.

"Li," I said carefully, "it's just me."

She stared at me with a furrowed brow for several seconds, but then suddenly recognition dawned and she slowly came back to herself. I sat down next to her, giving her time to regain her composure. Exhausted from my encounter with the harbinger I let my eyes close, but when all that I could see was Sonja's face I forced them open. Li chuckled.

"Well that was fun," she quipped. "Your woman must have been something for a harbinger to take her form."

"I thought you were asleep." I reached out to push a stray lock of hair back over her shoulder.

"So did I at first, but then I couldn't wake up, and then I was having a vision." She rubbed her hands along the tops of her arms. I picked up a fur throw from the end of the bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. She smiled at me appreciatively.

"What of your vision?" I asked. I waited for her answer but was met with silence. I turned to find her staring at me, a look of apprehension in her eyes.

"You will not like it Lucian," she began. "Most of it I cannot say, in fact the only thing that I can tell you is that it is now imperative that I leave."


	10. Parted

Within the first few days dispatched spies returned with intelligence corroborating the harbinger's claim that an agent had been sent to the vampires. There were vague warnings from Tanis that an attack was imminent, another indication that the harbinger had been truthful. With regard to changes in human destiny, it was difficult to ascertain, as our location was remote and I was loath to send any of my men far to the west in a fact finding mission that would likely take a decade or more to bear any true fruit.

On the one hand I knew unequivocally that a battle was coming. What I did not know, was what the end result of that battle would mean for my Lycan brethren. Would I disband our army, tell them to destroy our fortress and go into hiding, and abandon them for all intents and purposes? Or would I go against the harbinger's advice to defend and keep our home?

For three days I locked myself in my war chamber going over my conversation with the harbinger again and again. Taking into account our recent losses to the east I was not certain that we were entirely ready for a full on assault. While I felt sure that we could defend the fortress, I did not relish the notion of being confined within its walls…I had spent the first thirty years of my life as a prisoner here and I'd be damned if I allowed that to happen again.

On the fourth day I summoned Li. We had not spoken since the morning after the harbinger's visitation. As it was clear that our fortunes had changed, there had not been a lot to say at the time. During the three days I was locked inside, her classes in the pit were more boisterous than usual, and I frequently heard her high-pitched snarl from across the courtyard. More than once I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I'd half turn to the door to go to her aid, but then I'd remind myself of who she was, and I'd return to my ruminations.

When I heard the knock on the door I felt a pleasant warmth in my chest.

"Come," I said.

When she entered the room it was as if the air got a bit lighter, and it seemed like it was easier to breath. She was dressed in her usual simple tunic and trousers, but her hair and skin seemed to be glowing, and her eyes were shining like stars. I had intended to make this meeting about business, but I was compelled to cross the room and take her hands in mine. She blushed when she looked up at me and let out a light laugh before she spoke.

"I'm happier to see you than I thought I'd be," she admitted, cocking an eyebrow and looking away.

I smiled for the first time in days and squeezed her hands. She looked up at me again, and for a few moments I was happy to just return her gaze. Memories surfaced and I thought of pressing my fingertips into her skin and slipping my hands through her hair, the feel of her teeth along my jaw and her sighing against my shoulder. But I could not afford a happy reverie.

"Have you changed your mind?" I asked gently, trying to convey with my eyes that I was not looking to provoke. The silver in her eyes flashed dangerously for a moment, but then she softened.

"No my friend, I am afraid that there is no going back for me. I have seen things that make my decision quite easy." For a moment her eyes appeared glassy with tears, but then they were clear. "Have you made your decision?" She asked, wariness evident in her voice.

"I have made up my mind about all except one thing," I answered enigmatically, hoping to draw her out.

She did not comment, but nodded her head as if she knew something that I did not.

"Your choice will be clear when the time comes," was all that she said.

"You're not going to elaborate on that are you?" I asked.

Her face twisted slightly as she wrenched her eyes from mine.

"Lucian…I cannot…"

Frustration swelled but I refrained from indulging in more argument. It was clear that we were at an impasse. Her withdrawal hurt more than I would admit, and the thought of her leaving seemed impossible. I harbored a fragile belief that in the end I might convince her to stay, but the steel in her eyes said otherwise.

"Alright," I murmured, defeated. "Then the time has come to make our plans. We have little more than a week to prepare. The fortress will be destroyed during the battle, and it will take all of the time that we have remaining to set that to our advantage."

"How do we do that?" she asked hollowly. An odd light was in her eyes. I answered without thinking.

"We burn it."

For one moment her face betrayed something akin to terror but then it vanished and was replaced by hardness. She released my hands and turned her back. When she spoke her voice was unwavering.

"Will you disband the army after the battle?"

"We will be going underground for a while afterward if that's what you mean. Whether or not we all stay together," I paused meaningfully for a moment before continuing, "or we separate into smaller packs will be discussed during the war council meeting tonight."

"We? Do you mean to say that you will be staying with the pack?" She turned to face me, an eyebrow raised.

"That is the point about which I am undecided. I was hoping for your council…that you could shed some light." I stared directly into her eyes willing her to open up and tell me the truth of her vision from the night with the harbinger. She returned my gaze firmly.

"This decision must be made by you and you alone. There is no council to be given. If I were to sway you in one direction when you ought to have gone in the other it could have disastrous effects. I am only responsible for my part in this. I am afraid that you are on your own." It did not escape my notice that she said these last words carefully as if they held particular weight. The silver of her eyes was suddenly dimmed by tears, and I reached out to take her in my arms. She came willingly. I held her for several minutes in silence, pressing my lips to the top of her head.

"Then we will be parted after all," I whispered. I felt the slow nod of her head.

"It seems strange to make a decision like this," I said, feeling empty. "In our way of life we are prepared to be parted by force during battle…I have never made a decision to leave anyone. Sonja was literary ripped away from me, and I have only lost kinsmen as the result of this war. This just doesn't seem right."

She was silent for a moment but then looked up. Again I was surprised to see a flash of fear in her eyes. I was compelled to hold her tighter as she seemed momentarily shaken. But then her control returned and she stared at me with flint in her eyes.

"I know exactly what you mean."

--

The preparations for the battle took the better part of the week. Li returned to training the men with vigor, though she was present for every war meeting. Our private discussions ceased with regard to what was coming. When she came to my bed at night we found ourselves discussing the past, reminiscing about our lives. She told me how she had met her master's son.

"He was staring up at me from the bottom of the well and when I saw him I was so surprised that all I could say was 'I heard that this well had gone dry.' He looked up at me, completely stinking drunk, and laughed. Then he says 'Apparently it has not dried up from its supply of drunken young men. Why don't you go get me some help love.' And that was it. We were inseparable from that day on."

I laughed lightly.

"It sounds like the two of you had a lot of fun."

"We really did," she said, a smile stretched broadly across her face. "After so many terrible years with my husband, he was like fresh air to me. Those were the best years of my life. Was is the same for you and Sonja?" She asked, her face taking on a gentle open look.

I had to think about my answer for a moment.

"Sonja and I were passionately in love…but it would be hard to say that those were the best years of my life. I was her father's slave. We had to hide everything and lived under constant terror of being caught. There wasn't a lot of laughing or play. To be honest, sometimes I can't really remember her smile, probably because she smiled so infrequently. It was all very life and death. Sometimes I have dreams about her…that we escaped together and there was never any war. We live in a far off place where her father can never find us. She smiles all the time."

"Seeing that harbinger in her body must have been a shock to you," Li said gently.

"You would think that but it really wasn't terrible. The last time I saw her face it was on fire."

Li visibly shuddered and I reached out to rub her shoulder before continuing.

"There are no portraits painted of Sonja, I have no likeness of her. To see her face again whole and as it was in life was pleasant. Besides, I instantly knew it was not her."

"How was that?"

"I don't know…I guess recognition goes beyond the physical. I know it reeks of blasphemy to speak of the damned as having souls, but when I looked at the harbinger I did not see Sonja's soul. Does that make any sense?"

She smiled warmly and nodded. She curled into the crook of my arm, placed her head on my shoulder and looked up at me.

"You are a good man Lucian. I wonder what life would have held for you had you been born mortal."

I kissed her forehead and let my head fall back on the pillow while I contemplated her words. I thought back to the night that Li and I had met, and how at that time I had felt like I was turning to ice. It seemed that since then I had been warming, perhaps coming back to myself…it was hard to say. I still worried for the future of my species, but it seemed that with this coming battle and subsequent exile we would be forced to evolve in some way and I did not necessarily think that it was a bad thing. If it wasn't for the threat of Li's departure I would actually be content with my existence. I wrapped my arms more tightly around her and breathed in the scent of her hair, a scent that was becoming more and more familiar and comforting.

"I would have liked to work…I liked being a blacksmith, so maybe I would have done that. I would have wanted someone like you to be my wife, and for us to make a home and have children." My voice had grown quiet and Li turned over to look into my face. There were tears in her eyes. "More than anything if I had been born mortal I would have wanted this…just time. Time to work, to eat, to sleep, to love…time is something that I've never felt like I had, which is kind of ironic considering that I am an immortal. It is this damn war…"

"No it is more than that," she whispered. "Time has no meaning for immortals; it is like a current of water at the bottom of a canyon that is far beneath us – we can see its passing but it cannot touch us. When I was mortal I felt the passing of years, I saw people that I cared for age and grow weaker and die. It is when you are certain of the end that you become immersed in time…" Her words drifted off as did her gaze.

"I'm going to focus on this moment then," I said gently, "and treat it like it will never come again, because it won't." She smiled at me and nodded and closed her silver eyes to rest. We were quiet for the rest of the night, though I did not sleep.

I counted every one of her heartbeats.

I inhaled the scent of her hair and breath and forged them into my memory.

Which was a good thing because the next day she perished in fire.


	11. Saved

I stood on the cliff overlooking the smoldering wreckage of the fortress for three days. On the first day the harbinger did not approach, though I knew it was lingering on the edge of the forest wearing Sonja's face. I could smell lavender. On the second day she came and stood next to me. I was not so completely lost that I did not wonder at what Sonja might look like in the sunlight. But I did not turn. My eyes did not move from the archway. On the third day as the sun set casting a blood-red swath across what had been my home for my entire life, I turned to the harbinger. When I spoke I did not recognize the sound of my own voice.

"I dispatched Raze with instructions to split the army into nine packs. They were told to stay to the northern and eastern forests until such time as I return to summon them. To lower the risk of exposure I have forbidden the creation of any new Lycans for the time being. Engaging in discourse with humans has likewise been prohibited. We have officially fallen off the map."

"And the vampires believe that you are dead?" she crooned, her eyes flashing with a reddish gleam.

I looked down at my arm – carving the slave brand from my shoulder had left no scar. Only dried blood betrayed that there had ever been anything there at all.

"Kraven," I spoke the name acrimoniously, "has no doubt brought home his trophy. Viktor will be so pleased, he will likely sleep better than he has in centuries."

The harbinger nodded, a sly smile creeping to her lips.

"Then there is nothing to stand in the way of our plans. Come away from this place Lucian and we can begin anew. There is much work to do."

I stood stone still and stared coldly into her eyes – they were blazing a terrible crimson.

"I have plans of my own," I growled. "I will come with you, and if it appears that we can aid each other then so be it. If not… the game changes."

She nodded her head, not appearing to be surprised or the least bit put off by my words. She turned and began to walk into the woods.

"Oh and one more thing," I called after her.

"What would that be Lucian?"

"Stop looking like Sonja," I said, my voice as cold and sharp as a blade.

"Alright," she said petulantly. "Would you prefer if I looked like…"

I leapt and had her throat in my hand in an instant, my claws extending just long enough to break her flesh.

"Say her name and I will crush the life from you before you take another breath," I hissed.

Her eyes lost their red light and I saw surprise flash across her face. She quickly recovered.

"As you wish."

The body before me vanished and was replaced by a vague shadow. Its voice was garbled, and though I could not be sure in what language it spoke, I could understand it perfectly. We moved away from the ruined fortress. I did not look back.

---

_Six centuries later…_

The harbor was bracingly cold. The stars blinked dispassionately from their frosty roost. I felt them watching. I would have to be flawless in my actions tonight. There was no room for error.

I leapt onto the deck of the boat and landed noiselessly. I slipped into a doorway and down an interior corridor all the while tasting the air. The place reeked of humans, though the acrid scent of vampire blood was present as well. I moved deeper into the ship toward the smell which was as cold and briny as a fish. I passed door after door scanning each one to see if it might lead me closer.

Time was slipping away. I was about to turn left and descend deeper into the vessel when suddenly I caught the faintest whiff of heat. My heart leapt.

_No. Complete the mission. _

I turned toward the heat, which was little more than an ember in a glacier. But it was enough. I began racing down the corridor, passing quickly through doors. Suddenly I was in the room, and the scent of vampire blood was overpowering. The first thing I saw was Viktor's body. Though I had never met Viktor I knew it to be him as sure as I knew anything. His torso had been sliced open and something removed from his chest.

_I must hurry. Not much time left now_.

Gaze averted, I approached the source of the heat. The bag was open slightly so I closed my eyes. I knew the scent would be overpowering so I held my breath.

_Reach out and open the bag._

I let my fingers play at the zippered edges, prolonging perhaps to our peril the moment of reunion. I opened the bag, my eyes and my lungs simultaneously.

"Lucian!" I gasped.

His face was the same, and yet immeasurably different. He appeared pale and gaunt; bearing faint resemblance to the powerful, well-made man I had known so many centuries ago. Silver-stained vessels crisscrossed the skin of his face, obscuring his beauty, but it was still he.

I could contain my joy no longer. I laughed out loud as I reached into his body bag and wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his hair. He smelled of gun smoke, blood and earth. I could taste the silver at the back of my throat as I inhaled him and pressed my lips to his, indeed my flesh burned where it touched his bare skin, yet I did not care. The heat that had drawn me to him had not changed, though I felt it more strongly by proximity. Tears that I had never allowed myself to shed were pouring from my eyes and onto his face.

Sudden gunfire called me to task. I extricated myself from his body bag. I straightened my clothing, smoothed my hair and wiped the tears from my eyes.

"Time to go my friend," I whispered as I lifted him off the table. We were off the boat in less than two minutes and leaving a mess behind us.

---

_One month later._

I am kneeling by his bedside in prayer. I know that more than a few people might be surprised that the damned pray but pray we do. We need it more than anyone else. And I have never been entirely convinced that we are damned. If we were damned how could we love? How could we have children? How could we be worth saving?

He stirs and I reach to smooth a strand of hair from his brow. The vessels beneath his skin still bear the stain of the silver nitrate, though it has faded to little more than purplish bruising. In another month it will have disappeared completely. He reaches up and takes my hand.

The moment has come.

"Lucian?" I murmur.

He is silent, but I can tell that he is awake.

"Lucian…it is alright, you are safe."

He is off the bed and crouching in the corner before I can blink.

I stand up to approach but then freeze because he has begun to growl menacingly. He eyes have glazed over a milky whitish blue and I can see that his teeth and claws have begun to lengthen. I have anticipated this.

"Now Lucian, my darling, if it's a fight that you want I am here for you. As you know, I am always in the mood for a good scrap…but maybe we could talk first." I crook my eyebrow and smirk at him.

This seems to give him pause. He remains human and looks at me, confusion giving way to disbelief.

"You are dead," he says and I am stunned by his voice. It contains nothing of the man I knew. "I watched you die at the fortress…the floor collapsed beneath the archway. You were consumed in flames."

Bitter, bored, cruel, calculating – these are the things that I hear in his voice. My heart breaks a little bit in my chest, but I do not lose faith.

"Yes, what you say is true. I did fall into the flames…but there was a way out," I add guiltily.

"A way out," he says, his voice devoid of emotion. "And so you left."

"I told you that I was leaving."

He blinks. He turns fluidly away from me and walks to the open window. He places his hands on the frame of the window and leans out into the night air. I wish that I could touch him, to tell him that I am sorry. I wonder if he would even care.

"Italy?" he asks without moving from the window.

"Yes."

"I spent the better part of the sixteenth century in Italy," he says breezily, but I don't trust his calm. "The art was amazing…but the whores were magnificent. Not as good as in Greece or Spain for that matter, but still something to behold." He still has his back to me which I am grateful for so he can't see my face. I recover with grace.

"Now Lucian, if I were one of your kinsmen that conversation might hold some interest for me but I suspect that you are simply trying to be cruel." My voice is steady.

He turns toward me and smiles, but it does not reach his eyes. He approaches, palms open.

"Why would I be cruel to you Li?" he asks, his voice dripping in antagonism. "We are old friends after all, and we have so much to catch up on."

The sound of his voice saying my name, even with such an unkind tone, is momentarily stunning. He is walking toward me and now standing before me. His scent is overpowering. I find that I cannot look into his eyes. I feel his hand on my face as he forces me to look up at him.

"You let me believe you were dead," his tone is acerbic. He hand has become a vice gripping my jaw. I don't move. "You let me believe that you were burned alive…that I had lost another woman to fire." He releases me with a slight shove. His eyes are dangerous. I have never seen him like this.

I maintain my calm.

"I had my reasons," I state simply. "If you would allow me to explain…"

"Oh, by all means Li do explain," he barks, interrupting. He continues to stand before me and I am suddenly struck with the feeling that I am reporting to him, as if he is still my superior. His station as the head of the pack was always a given, but now he exudes authority, it streams from his eyes like starlight, cold and unwavering. I suppose eight centuries of being alpha will do that to a person.

But as I am no longer his subordinate, I turn my back to him. I fancy that I hear a small gasp but I ignore it. He must be reminded of who I am, and I was never one for following the rules, least of all the rules of men.

"The first night that we made love; the night that the harbinger came into your bedchamber, I had a vision. I had been having visions for some time foretelling my fall into the fire during the battle, but as my visions had been wrong in the past, I hoped that I could make choices that would avoid that from happening. I harbored a hope that I could stay with you…" I look over my shoulder at him, hoping that I have elicited some kind of emotion, but his face is stone. I continue.

"My vision on the night of the harbinger prophesied many things. There were things that I did not yet understand which only became clear as the centuries wore on and I watched your plans for a hybrid unfold." This statement provokes a response.

"Watched my plans! You were watching me!" He grabs my arm and spins me toward him. His rage is terrible but I am unperturbed. I calmly gaze down at his hand gripping by arm.

"Release me Lucian or you won't get to hear the rest of the story."

He is staring at me incredulously and I can tell that he doesn't know whether to follow my instruction or slap me for my insolence. It appears to pain him, but he drops his hand.

"I have watched you only in the sense that I had visions. You and I have not been within one hundred miles of each other since the day of the battle at the fortress. But returning to my vision that night so many centuries ago; it held two elements that were of particular interest to me. I saw you many years in the future murdered by a dark vampire…Kraven. I saw liquid silver in your veins. I saw the light leave your eyes. When I woke from the vision I knew I could not let this come to pass."

"But it did come to pass and yet here I stand; alive and well for all intents and purposes. How exactly did you bring me back from the dead?" His voice is not kind, but it is not disinterested or condescending either. Progress.

"I knew that my path lay with the coven of witches who had saved me after my husband had almost killed me. I believed that they held sway over life and death. I knew that if I could convince them to take me on as their apprentice that I would be able to obtain the means to save you. And…I was right," I add quietly, gesturing toward him.

He is regarding me silently. I cannot read the expression on his face, but he seems to be considering something. I allow the minutes to pass. He turns away from me and returns to the window. He leans heavily on the frame and allows his head to drop. I suppress the desire to approach him.

"Perhaps it would have been better to just leave me to my death," he whispers.

I am caught off guard.

"What?"

He turns to face me and the plain of his face has changed. He looks exhausted and defeated.

"I am tired Li. I have been fighting this war for centuries. I hate the pack; my own kinsmen are a constant source of ire. All of this time I have fought to secure a place in the world for my species, and now I barely care. I saw my plans for a hybrid finally reach fruition, albeit not in the way that I had envisioned. That was enough for me. The thought of returning to this battle wearies me beyond the telling. In death I was finished…now I will be compelled to resume my fight against the covens."

"The covens are gone, Lucian," I say gently. "Or at least, they are in such a state of disarray that they won't recover. They are headless. The elders are dead…your hybrid and the vampire woman have inextricably altered the fate of the vampires. It remains to be seen what will become of them. But for all intents and purposes your war is over."

Lucian looks as though he has been struck.

"Viktor is dead. You are sure?"

"Positive."

He closes his eyes and I can see that he is shaking. This time I cannot help myself. I approach him and gently take one of his hands in mine. He does not respond. When his eyes open, they hold a mixture of many things – they are haunted, relieved and dreadfully sad.

"I don't know what to say. What will I do now?"

My heartbeat quickens, because now we have come to the most important thing – the question of the future. I run my hand up his arm and lightly grip his shoulder. I take a deep breath and say a silent prayer.

"I told you that there were two elements of my vision that were of interest to me," I say gently. "The first was your death. The second was the birth of your child."

His gaze had drifted to the floor, but now his eyes shoot to mine.

"My child?" His voice is a whisper, but it now resembles the voice of the man that I once knew.

"She is no longer a child of course, being six centuries old, but she has a strong, capricious nature like her mother that on occasion makes her a nuisance like a child," I say, a smile coming to my lips. "Would you like to meet her?"

---

_I have elected not to intrude into the story with my own ramblings up until this point, but as there is only one chapter left after this one (almost completed so it will be posted soon) I wanted to make a plea to those of you who have been reading from the beginning – what do you think? I know how awkward reviewing can be at times but I would so appreciate the feedback, even if it is constructive criticism. I am particularly interested to know what you think of the changes in point of view and tense that happen in this chapter. Do they work? The change in POV was a selfish desire on my part to tell things from Li's side. The change in tense was to alter the pace of the story. I also wanted to convey a little more danger and intimacy (finally…in the last chapter – sorry to make you wait until the bitter end, but for some reason I was having difficulty writing a love scene from a man's perspective…) This story has changed immensely from where I thought it was going in the beginning and while I had always thought it would be between ten to twelve chapters, the chapters themselves turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated. Please let me know what you think…everyone has been so quiet. It would mean a lot to me. (Okay…I'll stop begging.) Hope you like the end._


	12. Vow

"Our daughter," he murmurs, taking my shoulders gently in his hands. His eyes are riveted to mine. "How could I have been so terribly cruel to the mother of my child?" He pulls me into a crushing embrace. It is like coming home. I revel in the moment, the feel of having him in my arms.

"You can't know how difficult this has been for me Lucian…knowing that you were out there, wanting to be with you and for you to know your daughter. I wracked my brain, went over a million different scenarios that would have enabled me to come to you sooner, but everything pointed to this being the only way. I had to stay away from you…I had to let you die. And I couldn't be sure that my cure would work. That was the hardest part. Not knowing if I was going to be able to save you…" I feel hot tears streaming down my face. He smoothes them from my skin with his thumbs.

"I am saved," he says. "I haven't the faintest idea how the damned can be saved, but you have done it. But let us not linger on this point. Tell me about my daughter."

"She is nearby and anxious to meet you. She is quite extraordinary – something entirely other…it is hard to describe. When the harbinger foretold that you had a part to play in another birth, it was her birth that it was talking about."

He is looking at me, fascinated.

"She is not Lycan?" he asks.

"She is more than Lycan. As it turns out, the mutation, if you want to call it that, started with you. You are essentially a shape-shifter born from the union between two pureblood wolves. Obviously you are only able to shift from wolf to man. I'm still not entirely clear on what I was before I was turned Lycan – witch, oracle, who knows. Whatever it was, the blending of our bloodlines knocked loose the boundaries on shape-shifting. She can shift into any type of creature that she desires. Don't think that wasn't disconcerting as hell when she was a toddler."

He laughs and the easiness of it warms me to my core.

"She works alongside the harbinger now. She helps them to communicate with other species. Their shape-shifting ability is limited in that they can only mimic other beings, whereas she actually becomes the other species. It comes across as being more genuine and therefore more comfortable for the other species to deal with. There are thousands of different species out there and as I'm sure you've noticed the world has gotten a lot smaller for most of us since the humans took over. It is better to resolve conflicts quietly and avoid human attention. That is what your daughter does."

He is glowing. I laugh gently.

"Hasn't known he's a father for ten minutes and already he's puffed up with parental pride," I chide gently.

"And her name?" he asks.

I pause for a moment, composing myself for the sting that this might cause.

"Sonja," I say quietly, looking deeply into his eyes to judge his reaction. "I wanted to name her after someone one of us loved, and since she wasn't born a boy, I thought…"

"It's lovely. Her namesake would have been honored," he says, bowing his head slightly.

"She is going to be mad as hell that I've allowed even this much time to elapse since you've woken to summon her. But I've enjoyed having you to myself. I imagine that once you meet it will be a long time before she lets you out of her sight."

"Nor I her," he says softly.

"You will have a lot to debate as well – you a lord of war for almost a millennia and she an ambassador for peace. I can't wait to see it. She can be a bit of a brat as I intimated earlier. She spent her adolescence being a vampire just to spite me. I wonder if she'll try you in a similar vein."

"It sounds like the two of you are very much alike," he teases lightly.

I nod my head.

"Yes, but she is also very much like you. There is a stillness about her; she is excellent in a crisis, very composed. She can be quite calculating. She will go to any lengths to see something through, especially if it is something she believes in. Sometimes she doesn't get my sense of humor at all. And at her heart she is very, very good."

Lucian is quiet. He has averted his gaze. After some time he speaks and his voice is grave.

"I don't know that my heart is good Li," he says. "I am a very different man from the one you knew. I have done unforgivable things during this war. By the end I had almost completely lost myself. My one focus was on finding the heir of Corvinus. It was almost as if I knew it would lead me to the end. I wanted it to be the end…" he trails off.

I look at him. I have expected this.

"It will not do to dwell on the past Lucian. Your time as a soldier is finished. You have been reborn for all intents and purposes. Consider this a return to yourself, your true self." I reach up and take his face in my hands. "I know that you are good. Let that be enough for now. Once you have done good you will believe it for yourself."

"What good can a Lycan do? We were made for war." His voice is defeated.

I drop my hands and kick him in the shin.

"Um…ow," he says, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"That's for being stupid. And I'll do it every time I catch you being it. How do you know what Lycans were made for? Did you receive a written mandate from someone important that I don't know about. Not to mention…what the hell do you think I've been doing for the past six centuries? Burning down soup kitchens and stealing from orphans?"

This elicits a small smirk. Progress.

"You are still very strange and a bit off putting," he says.

"I like to think of it as charming and a bit eccentric, thank you very much."

"Yes well I suppose that covers it as well. Your eyes are still amazing. They look even more metallic than I remember. I was always entranced by them…perhaps you were a siren of some kind before you became Lycan." He leans toward me as he says this, studying my eyes. His breath blows in my face and his scent momentarily overwhelms me. I feel my heart begin to beat a little faster. He catches the change in me, probably the dilation of my pupils, and begins to back away but I catch him by the shoulders. I lift my face to his throat and breathe in the scent of his skin. Sudden heat surges through my body. I look up at him and his eyes are burning into mine.

"Lucian," I sigh, as I run my hands up his back and plunge my fingers into his hair. I cannot stand the anticipation any longer. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him greedily. For the barest moment he hesitates, but on his next breath he opens his mouth to mine and grips the back of my head with his hands. The kiss is bottomless; obliterating all grief, loss, and loneliness in my heart.

He pulls away from me.

"I can't Li…not after what I said to you." His face is beyond contrite. I laugh very hard at this. He looks confused. I grab onto the waistband of his pants and pull him close.

"What?" I ask, exasperated, "The Italian whore thing? Lucian…there you go being a monk again. We are immortals…do you think I've gone six centuries without getting laid? Come now…let's be reasonable." I crook my eyebrow at him and smile lasciviously. He chuckles and this time the grin infuses his eyes with light. For a moment he looks like his old self.

He picks me up and carries me to the bed. I lay back and as he settles on top of me I run my hands up the back of his shirt, dragging my fingers down the flesh of his back. He arches into my touch, a low groan escaping his throat. I do not wish to undress; my need is too insistent, too longstanding. Fortunately he seems to feel the same way. Clothing is pushed hastily aside, our kisses fervent. I am touching him, pressing my fingerprints into his skin, marking him as my own. We hasten to the moment and yet, at the last second we pause, foreheads pressed together, eyes locking on one another. We hang here, lingering on the brink. It seems as though there is something to be said. He speaks these words,

"I will not be parted from you again."

"Nor I from you," I whisper.

"This is for life then…forever," he murmurs.

"Yes," I vow.

He is inside of me and I am cradling his head in my arms. We move slowly at first, remembering one another, finding our way back to the beginning. He kisses my eyelids, trailing to my lips, continuing down my throat until he reaches the flesh above my heart. With reverential deliberation he presses his lips to the skin and I feel my heart begin to beat harder, as if to escape my ribcage to be closer to him. Our pace quickens and I feel myself beginning to skip along the edge of a long fall. We wrap more tightly around one another; legs, arms, mouths, fingers – there is no part of one of us that is not entwined with the other. Exquisite tension mounts and my breathing turns to gasping. I am at the edge, and tripping over, all other senses are obscured by the plummet. Lucian's mouth is near my ear, and I vaguely hear his low moan as he takes his fall.

Recovery is slow and for a long time we do not move. When we have finally extricated ourselves, we lie facing one another. I trace the outline of one of the silver nitrate stains along his temple with my finger.

"I can still taste the silver a bit," he says. "It is very faint, but it is there. And I still burn. It is not terribly painful, but again, it is there."

"It will pass. Every day that passes a little more of it will be gone. One day you will wake up and it will seem like it never happened."

"Hmm," he murmurs. "If only it could be that way with all wounds."

I nod, understanding him perfectly.

"We'll get there," I whisper.

He smiles at me.

"Well, since you brought me back from the dead I expect that anything is possible. And how did you do that exactly?"

"I can't tell you all of my secrets, at least not all of them tonight!" I tease.

"But you will tell me?" he asks, looking genuinely intrigued.

"We'll see," I say, crooking an eyebrow at him. "We have plenty of time."

_The end_

_---_

_Thank you very much for reading. I hope that you liked it - please let me know by reviewing. Who knows where we go from here..._


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